Whereas police brutality and the use of excessive and militarized force are among the most serious ongoing human rights and civil liberties violations in the United States and have led to community destabilization, a decrease in public safety, and the exacerbation of structural inequities; Whereas the system of policing in America, and its systemic targeting of and use of deadly and brutal force against people of color, particularly Black people, stems from the long legacy of slavery, lynching, Jim Crow laws, and the War on Drugs in the United States and has been perpetuated by violent and harmful law enforcement practices; Whereas contemporary police practices that employ policing for low level offenses or so called broken windows policing, as well as expanded and excessively militarized policing, has led to mass criminalization, heightened violence, and mass incarceration that disproportionately impacts Black and Brown people; Whereas data shows there is a direct correlation between the increased militarization of a police department and corresponding levels of police brutality; Whereas police use of force is among the leading causes of death for young men of color; Whereas Black people, including Black women and girls, Native Americans, and Latinos are killed by police at disproportionately higher rates than their White peers; Whereas people with disabilities and other historically marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and those experiencing homelessness are significantly more likely to be criminalized and targets of police violence; Whereas police brutality and the use of excessive force have robbed countless communities of precious lives, have inflicted intergenerational harm and trauma to families, and are intensifying our Nation’s mental health crisis; Whereas police in the United States, through acts of brutality and the use of excessive force, kill far more people than police in other comparable nations and have been historically shielded from accountability