ANCHORAGE – With the recent killings of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Tony McDade (and so many others), the nation has drawn even greater attention to the use of police force, particularly within the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. Last week, Senator Elvi Gray-Jackson (D-Anchorage) pre-filed legislation to address this issue. Senator Gray-Jackson worked with the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Anchorage Police Department Employees Association, Anchorage Police Department, and the Public Safety Employees Association to craft the legislation.
The package, known as Turning Pain Into Progress (TPIP), has six components that were derived from the original 8 Can’t Wait national initiative:
- Bans the use of chokeholds
- Requires de-escalation procedures and provides a duty to intervene by officers that observe other officers violating practice standards
- Requires a peace officer to exhaust all possible alternatives and provide an oral warning before discharging a firearm
- Bans shooting at moving vehicles
- Requires comprehensive reporting by officers each time they use or threaten to use force, establishes a “use of force database” for Department of Public Safety, Department of Corrections, municipal officers, and municipal correctional officers, and requires those agencies to search the database before employing a new peace officer
- Requires the Department of Public Safety to publish certain policies and procedures on their website
“Our nation has seen too many Americans die because of inadequate policing methods, and for far too long, people of color have been disproportionately the subject of policing injustice,” said Sen. Gray-Jackson. “By working with law enforcement, we can build better relationships and standards to prevent the over-policing of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities.”
Members of the press with questions may contact Senator Elvi Gray-Jackson’s office at 907-269-0174.
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