I had the great opportunity to partner with Dr. Nick Crofts of the Centre for Law Enforcement and Public Health (Australia) to serve as the Guest Editor for a special issue of the Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being. The special issue, Envisaging Healthy and Safe Communities, shares lessons from a project we led that sought to document and highlight initiatives across the globe that are taking alternative approaches to promote health and safety.
‘We Have Seen What Change Can Look Like’
Two years after the murder of George Floyd, political polarization has stalled a national bipartisan movement for reform even as state legislatures and the White House continue to make progress.
30×30 Initiative: The Unique Value of Women Officers
Research shows that gender diversity can help improve law enforcement agencies and reduce use of force, and the 30×30 Initiative is working to make it happen.
Biden can change federal policing practices and set the floor for policies nationwide
Recently, I published a commentary in the San Antonio Express-News detailing the ways in which the Biden administration can and should utilize its executive authority to enact reforms across the dozens of federal agencies employing over 130,000 federal law enforcement officers. Such an effort would both meet needed reforms in these agencies and set a path for local and state law enforcement.
Policing Reform Continues Even as the Senate Fails
While partisanship doomed congressional action, state-level legislation and White House leadership can still promote accountability and transparency.
Using Crafts to Find Common Ground – printmaking with veterans
David runs a nonprofit art organization, Frontline Arts, that uses craft, printmaking, and papermaking as a connective practice among veterans and also between veterans and other communities. It’s a way to find commonality in different yet familiar experiences, reclaim and tell personal stories, and build connection toward greater positive change.
Envisioning the Future: Police & Public Health
Happy to share a recent publication I wrote with colleagues for the Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being, a Canadian-based international journal founded on the principles of multi-sector collaboration. The piece details our current project to document practical examples from jurisdictions across the world of alternative approaches to solving entrenched social challenges and problems without relying upon a punitive and enforcement-led policing model
America’s recovery from COVID must include jails & prisons
s America struggles to claw its way out of the prolonged pandemic and looks to the incoming Biden Administration for a light in the tunnel, this light must shine on the crisis raging across American prisons, jails, and detention centers.
“What does the construction of a toilet in a favela teach us about the failure of the war on drugs?”
(Coverage of our article on harm reduction & right to the city in VICE) Excited to see lengthy coverage in VICE of my recent journal article, A Right to the City? Harm Reduction as Urban Community Development and Social Inclusion, in MIT's Projections. You can find the article (in Spanish) here. It was published on …
Police and Harm Reduction
Sharing the 2018 guidance document I wrote for law enforcement personnel around the world on practical steps they can take to advance public safety, public health, and public confidence, particularly in relation to drug enforcement. As overdose deaths, police violence, and public protests all continue to soar, this guidance has become even more important. There are other options to keep communities healthy and safe.