Police Accountability Now
We have had enough. Police violence, brutality, and misconduct must be stopped in America. Local and federal governments across the country have mostly failed the people. We have decided to take this matter into our own hands.
Police unions across the U.S. have provisions that expunge or destroy records of past misconduct (both sustained and unsustained) from their disciplinary file, and in some cases prevent their disciplinary records from being released to the public via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Beyond that, in most municipalities, a signed affidavit is required to file a police misconduct complaint. This problem has existed for decades and remains constant.
We no longer need to vote a tool like this into existence, or petition politicians for transparency as it pertains to misconduct.
Today, we are sharing with you an unstoppable protocol for public good. policeaccountabilitynow.org is designed and built on decentralized technologies - specifically IPFS and the Ethereum blockchain - they require nobody’s permission to exist. Out of the reach of any single government, the PAN protocol cannot be removed or shut down. Anyone can create a gateway to the protocol, and several exist already, like etherscan.
We hope to empower those who have had to deal with police misconduct across the nation with the ability to let their voice be heard, without fear of repercussion or retaliation. We hope to enable police - who know the “blue wall of silence” is keeping malicious or violent officers safe - to report the misdeeds of their colleagues without worrying about destroying their career prospects. We hope to make it clear to police officers that they cannot commit crime or other atrocities and hide behind a badge with a strong union contract - the people will be able to see every single misconduct report filed against them, ever. The protocol and data are open.
Today we’re launching on the Kovan test net with coverage for police departments in the top 50 cities by population - that includes links to their policies and procedures as well as their logo, with more to come. You can file an anonymous complaint for any one of the top 50 cities listed here.
While we have scraped the web and are actively populating 23 departments police officers — we still need your help to get verified names and badge numbers of active police officers at these departments. If you can, please file a FOIA request for the names and badge numbers of every active officer at the following departments then share the data with us on twitter:
- New York Police Department
- Los Angeles Police Department
- San Antonio Police Department
- San Diego Police Department
- Dallas Police Department
- Austin Police Department
- Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office
- Columbus Division of Police
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
- San Francisco Police Department
- Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department
- Seattle Police Department
- Denver Police Department
- Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia
- Detroit Police Department
- Portland Police Bureau
- Las Vegas Police Department
- Louisville Metro Police Department
- Albuquerque Police Department
- Fresno Police Department
- Sacramento Police Department
- Kansas City Police Department
- Raleigh Police Department
- Long Beach Police Department
- Virginia Beach Police Department
- Oakland Police Department
- Tampa Police Department
- Portland Police Bureau
- Miami Police Department
Once our database is relatively well populated, we will smash our keys and give the people the power to add officers and departments to the people.
We want to provide coverage for Sheriff’s Deputies as well. We are working to secure this data.
In a best case scenario, municipalities around the country can take advantage of this free and open standard by creating a gateway to this protocol for every single police department in America accompanied by community review boards that decide which complaints warrant more investigation. Software engineers can then create a follow up protocol with adjudication results for every complaint filed. The idea is to ensure that law enforcement officers around the country make more thoughtful decisions about when and how to apply force, because their actions could end up in a permanent, public database.
As of now, anyone and everyone can build upon this protocol, the docs are here. The local press can review every single complaint and the associated evidence here, and then put pressure on local departments and politicians to improve their policing.
Power to the people. ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
P.S. There are numerous other issues with policing in America today: these include Qualified Immunity, lack of community oversight, lack of body cameras, body cameras that are mysteriously turned off or malfunctioning, excessive use of force, militarization, civil forfeiture and union contracts that destroy trust between the public and the police. For a full breakdown, visit joincampaignzero.org.
