Senate Bill 62 tells officers to assess whether those suspected of nonviolent offences pose a threat to society
Police stand in front of demonstrators during a protest in Portland, the US, November 4 2020. Picture: REUTERS/GORAN TOMASEVIC
When police try to apprehend suspects, some of whom are inevitably innocent, it naturally escalates the situation and sometimes the results are deadly for both police and suspects.Elijah McClain for refusing to identify himself.
No-one should risk their life, or the lives of others, over minor offences such as using counterfeit money, trespassing, not having a licence plate, speeding, or failing to appear for a misdemeanour offence. Police need the assistance of the law to de-escalate many of these interactions. They need to get the message from legislators that for most of their work, arrests are not necessary. Senate Bill 62 sends that message loud and clear by telling police to use their judgment to assess whether those suspected of nonviolent offences pose a threat to society.
We ask police officers to make life-and-death decisions every day; we can ask them to articulate their assessments for the threat to the community when making an arrest too. If a suspect does not pose a threat and has committed a nonviolent offence, police can issue a citation for the person to appear in court — like a speeding ticket, where matters will only get worse for folks if they fail to appear.
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