Add Calvert County, Maryland to the Defund 12 Page

[db14619]

Below is our message, the officials to send this to are as follows: mike.evans@calvertcountymd.gov steven.jones@calvertcountymd.gov timothy.fridman@calvertcountymd.gov buddy.hance@calvertcountymd.gov mike.hart@calvertcountymd.gov tim.hutchins@calvertcountymd.gov kelly.mcconkey@calvertcountymd.gov steve.weems@calvertcountymd.gov calvertethics@gmail.com CalvertSAOCircuit@calvertcountymd.gov CalvertSAODistrict@calvertcountymd.gov contact@maryland.gov

Hello,

My name is [INSERT NAME] and I am from [NEIGHBORHOOD/BOROUGH/CITY, STATE]. I am emailing you to demand for drastic police reform that will help prevent the senseless police brutality that endangers black lives in our communities every day.

The racist murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and hundreds of other black individuals in our nation are intolerable and should have never happened. An overwhelming number of these murders are a direct result of police brutality. According to a 2016 study by Campaign Zero, “Only 9 of the 100 largest American cities’ police departments did not kill anyone in 2015 or 2016”. This is an alarmingly high number of deaths caused by those individuals whose job it is to protect the citizens of this country. Even worse, those police officers who commit these horrible crimes experience little to no accountability for their actions. This study recommends “8 policies that can decrease police violence by 72%”:

-Ban chokeholds and strangleholds -Require de-escalation of situations -Require warning before shooting -Exhaust all other means before shooting -Duty to intervene and stop excessive use of force by other officers -Ban shooting at moving vehicles -Require use of force continuum -Require comprehensive reporting

These policies have been studied and proven to result in significantly fewer deaths by police, however, few police departments across the country have enacted all 8 of them. I urge you to adopt these strategies to prevent useless police brutality and to protect all lives, especially black lives, in our communities. I strongly recommend that you visit https://8cantwait.org/ and read through the entire Use of Force study to fully understand the impact that these policies could have. Along with the demands enforced from “8 Can Wait”, I specifically demand for our county that they:

• Provide clear guidelines for the right of Calvert County residents to peacefully assemble, and encourage their right to do so
• Civilian oversight for specific review of complaints and disciplinary measures when these are filed
• Establish a volunteer Police Review & Advisory Board with public meetings that allow community members and organizations to voice their criticisms and review police policies and practices
• Call on the Maryland General Assembly to pass legislation requiring the usage of body-worn cameras, with applicable privacy protections
• Require the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office to collaborate with community leaders to develop a strategic plan and timeline that seeks to create a representative proportion of police officers who are women and people of color and publicly share the progress on these goals
• Encourage and support the community’s right to record police interactions and encounters to promote accountability

White supremacy has infected every level of American society, especially in Southern Maryland. Our movement seeks to eradicate White supremacy in every form - whether that be systemic racism in criminal justice and law enforcement, health care, education, housing justice and every facet of society. This movement seeks to defend black lives in Southern Maryland and everywhere, because for too long America has not. I stand in solidarity with the simple, loud message: Black Lives Matter.

Sincerely,

[INSERT NAME] [YOUR ADDRESS] [YOUR EMAIL] [YOUR PHONE NUMBER]

[averymcguirt]

Hi @db14619 thanks for your submission. As a national (rather than local) and reformist campaign, we are staying away from messaging from 8can'twait and similar campaigns. Going to close this out, but feel free to open a new issue if you'd like to submit based on guidelines put forward in our style guide. https://github.com/defund12/defund12.org/blob/master/EMAIL_TEMPLATE_STYLE_GUIDE.md

[db14619]

Understood! Will be submitting again!

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 11:37 AM, averymcguirtnotifications@github.com wrote:

Hi @db14619 thanks for your submission. As a national (rather than local) and reformist campaign, we are staying away from messaging from 8can'twait and similar campaigns. Going to close this out, but feel free to open a new issue if you'd like to submit based on guidelines put forward in our style guide. https://github.com/defund12/defund12.org/blob/master/EMAIL_TEMPLATE_STYLE_GUIDE.md

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.

[db14619]

Just updated the letter! Thank you!