The Brown Family Statement stresses a campaign to start getting body cameras on cops. Hit up whoismyrepresentative.com to find your senators and write to them.
Let’s get on this and make a difference, guys.
I feel we are at a turning point in the country. Body cameras on police officers is just the tip of the iceberg but it is a starting point and one specifically requested by Mike Brown’s family. I just contacted all of my representatives. You should too. Below is what I sent and I have no problem with others using it too. Feel free to copy and paste.
"In light of recent events, I am writing to request that you make it a priority to create a law requiring police officers working on the streets to wear tamper-proof body cameras. In addition to severely limiting unwarranted police brutality, they can also serve as evidence in fair trials against those who knowingly break the law.
To those officers who complain about a lack of privacy or trust, I would like to point out that there has not been many incidents in our country in recent years to promote feelings of trust towards the police in many major cities. Not only that but many people in America work in places where they are on camera 24/7. Millions of people who work in hotels, airports, offices, retail establishments and more are on camera more often than they are not.
Obviously much more needs to be done to close this rift in our country. We’ve been putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound for the past few decades. I believe we are starting to rip that Band-Aid off and are discovering what has been festering as we have been ignoring it. I hope that the growing awareness of injustices in our country leads us to cleaning out that wound from the bottom up.
The addition of body cameras as required equipment for officers is a very small step towards justice in our communities. But it is one that will help us move towards a better future for ALL people in this country. I hope you share in my concerns and will work towards making America a safer place for its people.”
You done good, friend. I pasted this into an email to my representative.
This is a good add-on to this post so i’m boosting it again.
I hope this doesn’t come off as nitpicky, and it’s not a dig at you, piratelawyer, thank you so much for creating a template for people to use, but I would suggest we all change that last little bit to exclude “citizens born in this country.” Not all US citizens are born here, and they often bear the brunt of racial profiling when cops make traffic stops. Again, thank you so much piratelawyer for this template.
