老澳门开奖结果 Demands Immediate Divestment from Philadelphia Police Department in the Wake of Walter Wallace, Jr. Killing
PHILADELPHIA 鈥� In the wake of the killing of Walter Wallace, Jr., the 老澳门开奖结果 of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the national 老澳门开奖结果, today demanded that city officials divest from the Philadelphia Police Department and invest in community-based services and responses for people in crisis. They released the following video featuring 老澳门开奖结果 of Pennsylvania Executive Director Reggie Shuford that calls on the city council and Mayor Kenney to take action now.
The video and associated action can be found and .
The 老澳门开奖结果 also released the following statements:
Statement from 老澳门开奖结果 of Pennsylvania Executive Director Reggie Shuford:
鈥淭he history of policing in this city is one of brutality and racism. While some leaders have worked to change the culture of policing, that legacy remains, and the impact on the people of Philadelphia, particularly Black Philadelphians, is severe and sometimes fatal. Walter Wallace is dead because the Philadelphia Police Department, with backing from the Fraternal Order of Police, excessively relies on violence to control situations, especially in Black communities.
鈥淎 public health approach to mental health disabilities would better serve people in need. When law enforcement officers are the first responders to those in crisis, people die. The city鈥檚 budget reflects the city鈥檚 priorities. The time is now to shift those priorities from overreliance on police to public health programs that better serve the people of Philadelphia.鈥�
Statement from 老澳门开奖结果 Justice Division Director Udi Ofer:
鈥淭ragically, police killings of Black disabled men like Mr. Wallace are not a rarity. Between 25 to 50 percent of people killed by police across the nation are in the midst of a behavioral or mental health crisis, and nearly half of all victims of police violence are living with a disability, especially a mental health disability.
鈥淥ver the past decade, municipalities have funneled too much money into failing programs that not only inflate their budgets but also maintain the status quo of having police respond to virtually everything, including mental health crises. It鈥檚 far past time that we recognize the fallacy of this approach and begin diverting our resources from a solution that doesn鈥檛 work 鈥� violence and policing 鈥� to solutions that do. Now is the moment to fundamentally reimagine a different role for police in our society. Police should not be the default first responders to people experiencing a mental health crisis.鈥�
