NAACP
Smart & Safe Initiative
Effective Law Enforcement Campaign
March 2010
NAACP History & New Program
Oldest civil rights organization in the U.S.
 Informing criminal justice issues since inception: 1910
Pink Franklin
 Racial integration in law enforcement & military
 Rodney King: model use of force standards & diversity
in law enforcement
 New Criminal Justice Program: Smart & Safe Criminal
Justice Initiative

Smart & Safe Initiative

Four Campaigns
◦ Advance Effective Law Enforcement
◦ Elevate the voices of crime survivors
◦ Eliminate Employment Incarceration of the
Formerly Incarcerated
◦ Reform Punitive Sentencing & Support Voting
Rights for the Formerly Incarcerated
Framing the Problem

Goal of Campaign: Increasing Public Safety
– Trust is imperative

Trust undermined by community fringes
◦ Anti-cooperative, “anti-snitching” community
members
◦ Officers seen to needlessly resort to violence
The Tension
Anti
Snitching/
Cooperation
Community
Law
Enforcement
Collaboration
Excessive Use
of Force by
Law
Enforcement
Incidents that Undermine
Community/Law Enforcement
Collaboration
Reports of excessive/deadly use of force
by law enforcement
 Incidences of anti cooperation by
community members

Three examples:
 Rockford, Illinois
 Chicago, Illinois
 Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
Rockford, Ill. – August 2009
23 year-old Mark Anthony Barmore
 Domestic complaint
 Chased and shot dead in front of day care
students at church
 Unarmed; 3 shots in the back, one in neck
 Witnesses report intimidation
 Increase in racial tensions in community
 Lack of trust between community and
police department

Rockford, Ill. – Mark Barmore’s Children
Chicago, IL- September 2009
16 year-old Derrion Albert, honor student
 Walking home from school because
school bus services were cut
 Killed by neighborhood group
 Witnesses were present
 Witnesses refused to collaborate with
Law Enforcement to identify killer

Chicago, IL- Community Impact
Pittsburgh, PA – January 2010






18 year-old, honors music student, Jordan Miles
Approached by undercover officers, asked about
“money and drugs”
Chased, beaten, hair pulled out, choked
What officers believed was gun, was Mountain
Dew bottle
Charged with resisting arrest, aggravated assault
Community outrage and outcry in support of
Miles
Pittsburg, PA – Jordan Miles
Our Approach

Fight Anti Cooperation
◦ Stop the Funerals; New Haven Project
◦ Community Policing
◦ Elevating Voices of Crime Survivors

Fight Excessive Use of Force by Law
Enforcement
◦ Partnerships/Coalition Building
◦ Model Policies/Standards
◦ All Alert Online Citizen Reporting Tool
What We Hope to
Accomplish



Strengthen trust, increase public safety:
◦ Work together: advocates, law enforcement, experts,
lawmakers
◦ Effective Law Enforcement Coalition
◦ Model policy/standards on use of force
◦ Establish citizen review committees
◦ Support for community oriented policing
Partnership:
◦ Be allies; share information/input to build trust
◦ Participate in developing model policies/standards
◦ Implement model policy in jurisdictions across U.S.
Better Understand the Problem – All Alert
Keep in Touch!
Robert Rooks, MSW
Director, Criminal Justice
rrooks@naacpnet.org
(410) 336-3156
Dr. Niaz Kasravi
Sr. Manager, Law Enforcement Accountability
nkasravi@naacpnet.org
(410) 336-2642