What We Talk About When We Talk About Police Reform

WAMU 88.5 | By Kathryn Fink

Published June 5, 2020 at 4:04 PM EDT

We explore what reforms activists are asking for as thousands of people take to the streets to protest racism and police brutality.

What does it mean to reform the police?

As hundreds of thousands of people pour into the streets to protest racial injustice, combating police brutality has come to the forefront. “We have been fighting and advocating to stop a war on black lives. And that is how we see it — this is a war on black life,” Black Lives Matter founder Opal Tometi told The New Yorker.

Here’s a list of what protesters in San Antonio, Texas are organizing for.

On protestors’ list of demands:

-civilian review board w/ power to issue disciplinary actions

-more diverse police force

-transparent website showing all complaints

-end to most no-knock warrants

-better screening of police applicants for racist attitudeshttps://t.co/p0UlXNRKU3

— Marina Starleaf Riker (@marinastarleaf) June 5, 2020

And some organizers are going beyond reform. They say it’s time to defund the police.

From The Guardian:

We explore what it would take to reform the police — and whether reform is still possible.