Title: Promoting accountability - Transforming the System Transforming the System
Headings: Promoting accountability
Promoting accountability
Community-based accountability
Political accountability
Civil lawsuits
Criminal Prosecutions
To promote accountability, local, state, and county legislatures should pass legislation that calls for the following:
Civil society, activists, and concerned community members should:

Content: Since Title VI prohibits recipients of federal funds, including police departments, from discriminating based on race, color, or national origin, the DOJ could require police departments to “show specific, demonstrable evidence of proactive efforts to address and overcome racially biased policing when those departments apply for federal funds, undergo evaluations, submit reports, and are audited for compliance with federal civil rights law. Better still, it can reward and incentivize the departments that combine public safety and civil rights protections most effectively.” The demonstrable evidence of such policy changes can include the type of policy changes police departments provide in consent decrees with the federal government, including “training in civil rights and de-escalation, stronger scrutiny of racial inequities and excessive force, and greater community accountability and oversight.” Thus, the DOJ can proactively encourage these reforms, providing adequate guidance and resources, rather than reacting to abuses in a piecemeal fashion. Police officers can also be made subject to “political” checks, such as peer reviews during incidents of misconduct and internal disciplinary panels. While these checks may exist, they are often missing the necessary transparency that can reassure the public that internal procedures are thorough and fair. At the same time, by regularly providing data to the public on the disciplinary dispositions of all misconduct complaints it will be easier to identify and address systemic problems in those processes. Internal police procedures can also reflect a commitment to accountable, fair, and unbiased policing. Police departments can require implicit bias training and develop a policy to consider an officer’s racial bias and record when hiring, certifying, deploying, or evaluating police officers. Civil lawsuits
Police officers can also be held accountable through civil lawsuits.