By Natalie Tran
Since the death of George Floyd in police custody sparked nationwide protests for racial justice, communities across the country have been demanding reform from their police departments and local governments, to varying degrees of success. How does our community compare?
One way to see how our local institutions measure up to activists’ demands is the 8 Can’t Wait initiative, a set of eight reforms to police use of force policies. 8 Can’t Wait was launched in June by Campaign Zero, an online activist platform for police reform founded after the 2014 Ferguson, Missouri protests over the police shooting of Black teenager Michael Brown.
After requesting use of force guidelines from 100 of the country’s largest police departments, Campaign Zero identified and selected ten specific policies associated with lower rates of police-involved killings to include in its recommendations. For 8 Can’t Wait, they selected eight policies that could be quickly implemented in cities across the country.
According to a 2016 Campaign Zero analysis, these policies together could potentially decrease police violence in America by 72 percent. The policies are:
- Require Officers to De-Escalate Situations
When facing potential conflict, an officer should slow down and use verbal persuasion when possible, before resorting to using force. - Require a Use-of-Force Continuum or Matrix
A use-of-force continuum is a standard procedure that officers should follow when faced with different types of resistance. The matrix consists of six levels defining the types of force and weapons officers can use, depending on the situation at hand. - Ban Chokeholds and Strangleholds
This includes banning carotid restraints, a neck hold which restricts blood flow to a person’s brain when the officer compresses the carotid arteries on the side of their neck. - Require Officers to Issue a Verbal Warning Before Shooting
In addition, officers should allow the subject a reasonable amount of time to comply with the warning. - Prohibit Officers from Shooting at Moving Vehicles
Unless the occupants of the vehicle pose a deadly threat (for example, shooting at other vehicles or the officer), officers should not discharge a firearm at a moving vehicle in an attempt to disable it. - Require Officers to Exhaust All Alternatives Before Shooting
Using deadly force should be a last resort and should not be considered routine. Discharging a firearm is only acceptable in self-defense or in defense of someone else. - Require Officers to Stop Another Officer from Using Excessive Force
Officers should be obligated to intervene if they observe another employee using force that is clearly beyond what is reasonable. Furthermore, they should be obliged to report the use of force incident to a supervisor. - Require Comprehensive Reporting
Whether pointing a gun or using a taser, police officers should be required to file a report whenever they use any type of force. This is so that the officer will be more conscientious when deciding whether or not to use force.
Our local police departments have spoken on concerns about current use of force policies and have made changes to some of the policies advocated for by 8 Can’t Wait. Here’s what they said:
“I take the leadership responsibility to ensure that your Police Department provides public safety and the quality of life which promotes public trust,” Fountain Valley Police Chief Matthew Sheppard said in a June 22 letter. “For transparency I have listed several Department Policies that have been recent national topics of discussion.”
According to the Fountain Valley Police Department (FVPD) Policy Manual, all eight of the use of force policies proposed by 8 Can’t Wait have already been in place. The FVPD has also suspended the use of carotid holds as of June 10 after Governor Gavin Newsom banned carotid restraint training on June 5.
The Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD) has also spoken out about the 8 Can’t Wait initiative. In a June 10 press statement, HBPD Chief Robert Handy explained how the initiative’s eight policies relate to HBPD.
“The Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD) recognizes and respects the value of all human life and dignity, without prejudice,” the release read. “Vesting officers with the authority to use reasonable force to protect the public requires monitoring, evaluation, and a careful balancing of all interests.”
As of now, the HBPD has 7 of the 8 recommended policies in place. Their use of force policies do not include requiring a use-of-force continuum since, HBPD claims, it is an outdated model. Instead, HBPD has been focusing on modern policing and using objective reasonableness.
“The ‘use-of-force continuum’ was a concept adopted by departments decades ago that has since given way to better informed, evidence-based use of force policies,” the release read. “The HBPD, in keeping with modern police practices, utilizes industry standard force options in which officers are required to use only the amount of force which is reasonable to overcome resistance to affect an arrest.”
While 8 Can’t Wait’s proposals may sound promising, the campaign has faced backlash and criticism from some activists. Some have taken issue, for example, with Campaign Zero’s statistical methodology.
“#8cantwait is not evidence-based,” Texas A&M economist and Justice Tech Lab director Jennifer Doleac said in a series of Tweets. “Their [recommendations] might be good steps, but please don’t pretend that the ‘data proves’ they work. We do not know if they work yet.”
Critics’ main issue with the initiative, however, is that many police departments across the country have already implemented several of the proposed policies and yet still have problems with police brutality. In fact, some of the nation’s largest police departments already have four or more of these policies in place – including departments in Los Angeles (with five policies implemented), Chicago (six) and Philadelphia (seven).
Critics say that Minneapolis is among the several cities that have four or more of the proposed policies in place, but that did not stop George Floyd from being killed. Despite the fact that Minneapolis’s police department had already implemented the “duty to intervene” policy, the two officers with Derek Chauvin still continued to watch him use unreasonable force on Floyd without interceding.
Instead of 8 Can’t Wait’s proposed policies, these activists advocate more fundamental changes to America’s relationship with police, from defunding police departments to abolishing the institution altogether.
“In my opinion, I believe the government should defund our police,” FVHS sophomore Ian Bui said. “Not entirely where it’s nonexistent, but enough where they are not given so much power as to kill innocent Black people and get away with it. There are plenty of other organizations to fund instead of the police, [such as] free healthcare for all, free college for all, [ending] poverty and hunger – the list goes on.”
While some proponents of 8 Can’t Wait respond that what the country needs right now are quicker and more politically feasible answers to police brutality, their opponents have argued that the campaign’s proposals might reduce killings but would not actually solve deeper systemic issues of racial injustice in policing.
“[I agree with] the idea that all cops are contributing to a racist system that targets [people of color], even if [an individual police officer] is a kind person,” Bui said. “It doesn’t matter if you are the most generous person on earth. You are still actively participating in a system that kills innocent Black people without hesitation.”
