Resources

Over the past few years, there has been growing attention to the violence of policing and obstacles to police accountability and community safety that does not rely on police. With this heightened attention, the role and influence of police unions/fraternal organizations/associations has entered the spotlight, sparking discussions and debate over how to challenge obstacles posed by police union power.1 As calls grow to address police union power, so too does apprehension around targeting what many assume functions as a typical labor union. Some caution that critiques of police unions is a slippery slope that can only lead to negative consequences for all public sector unions, not just those for police unions.

A searchable database of police, sheriffs, and other public safety agencies’ contracts.

This kit is designed to help you participate in the effort to remove dangerous provisions from the Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) between Louisville Metro & Louisville’s Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). This document outlines key moments in the coming weeks & months and provides you with the information you need to participate in these activities. Many of the resources here are templates that you can adapt for your own purposes.

Starting in 1965, summer after summer, America’s cities burned. There was civil unrest in more than 150 cities across the country. So in 1967, Lyndon Johnson appointed a commission to diagnose the root causes of the problem and to suggest solutions. What the so called “Kerner Commission” returned with was hotly anticipated and shocking to many Americans. This week, how that report and the reaction to it continues to shape American life.

May 25, 2020 was a both a personal tragedy for the Floyd family and a community tragedy. But it was also a watershed moment locally and nationally in people’s understanding of police violence, the racism and classism that underpins it, and the systems that enable it. This document seeks to provide specific recommendations for addressing police brutality, misconduct and abuse of authority in the state of Minnesota. Many of these recommendations are not new—our organization has presented them many times over the years. Prior failures by leaders at the city, county and state level to adopt these evidence-based solutions are what brought us to this place.

Police unions do more than bargain for wages and benefits. They perpetuate harm, protect violent police officers, and create barriers to officer accountability and policy change. This site exposes their playbook. From contributions to politicians, to contracts and copaganda, police unions use predictable and toxic tactics to skirt accountability for officers and block efforts towards reform. Together we can call them out on these tactics and take action to diminish the power of police unions.

NoMoreCopMoney is a national database that documents campaign funds current state and local politicians accepted from law enforcement-affiliated PACs since 2015. We provide contact information to make it easy to ask your representatives to donate these campaign funds and to pledge to refuse them in the future. Our goal is to decrease the influence of law enforcement in our government.

Elected officials have a responsibility to hold police accountable for the ongoing violence and abuses of power against Black people. In doing so, they must act independently from police unions and others determined to stand in the way of common sense solutions that keep communities safe. Use this website to take the pledge to not accept FOP money as a politician, or to call on your officials to sign the pledge to not accept FOP money.

This toolkit is an introduction to AJC’s vision and strategy for social change. From grassroots organizing to legislative policy work, here is a snapshot of how we take on the big problems.