What Has Really Changed?

As Walter Katz, AV’s Vice President of Criminal Justice, watched the excruciating eight minutes and 46 seconds of George Floyd's death unfold, he had one question: Again? “It’s been six years since Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in a street in Ferguson, Missouri, and almost six years since Eric Garner was killed with a chokehold in New York City,” says Katz. “And here we are. After all this effort to talk about reforming the police, of involving the community, of improving trust and legitimacy. I think a lot of people looked at what happened in Minneapolis and said, ‘What has really changed?’ ”  

What he’s calling for: Katz, who has served as a public defender, police auditor, and law enforcement consultant, recommends four specific reforms to address the deficiencies in police departments across the country and restore trust between communities and officers:

• Remove Qualified Immunity for Officers: “There are shields in court which make it very difficult for people who have been victimized by police to hold the police accountable. This stands as a barrier to civil rights litigation relief.”

• Limited Role of Police Unions in Review & Sanction Process: “There is nothing wrong with having pay, benefits, and even scheduling be part of a contract. But if you read many of these police contracts, they regulate and control, to an extreme extent, what the role of accountability and discipline is within that department.”

• Enhance Transparency: “Ten to 20 years ago, many states were passing these really broad and expansive ‘Peace Officer Bill of Rights’. And what they were doing to a great extent was making the actions of police officers the opposite of transparent — in fact shielding records, shielding misconduct from public accountability.”

• Uniformed Certification & Qualification Requirements: “We need certification and qualification requirements that are at least statewide, if not nationwide, so that all officers are on a register. So that, if they are disciplined for misconduct, if they are under investigation for serious misconduct, they’re flagged on that register as part of a do-not-hire list. We need to look at the number of officers who can resign from departments under clouds of suspicion while under investigation for serious misconduct or deadly use-of-force and then walk out that door and walk into the door of a different police department right down the street. That shouldn’t be.”

Watch the video interview and read the story >

Also, follow Katz on Twitter immediately.

We all watched in April as, amid a global pandemic, Wisconsin voters lined up at the polls in face masks — or skipped the election entirely out of fear for their health. “I can’t believe I have to choose between voting and the safety of our child,” Wisconsin resident Angela Warner, who was eight months pregnant at the time, told The Daily Beast. “It almost feels like choosing life or death, to be honest.” An option to vote by mail could have prevented Warner from being forced to choose between her health and her right to vote. It’s among a handful of reforms that Arnold Ventures is supporting —changes to our democratic process that could increase electoral fairness and hold elected officials more accountable to the public. Here’s the work is being done:

Voting at home: Even before COVID-19, more than half of America’s eligible voters didn’t make it to the polls due to various barriers that could be relieved by widespread mail-in voting. “If we have a system that doesn't work in a pandemic, we likely have a system that doesn't work generally,” argues Amber McReynolds, CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute.

Anti-gerrymandering reforms: Redistricting reform means better representation for voters. “We are active in states like Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Virginia, where citizens have been petitioning for independent redistricting commissions that would allow voters to determine who their politicians are going to be, rather than politicians picking their voters,” says AV Vice President Sam Mar.

Ranked-Choice Voting: “It's a terrible system when voting for the candidate you like the most could help elect the person you like the least,” said Rob Richie, President of FairVote. Ranked-choice voting can expand voter choices and results in more civil, less negative campaigning, and it’s gaining traction among states. Maine will be the first to use it in a presidential election this fall. (Although Republicans there are trying to stop it.) 

Open primaries: Closed and partisan primaries disproportionately exclude voters of color and young people, who are more likely to identify as independents, says John Opdycke, President of Open Primaries. “You have a system that's out of whack with how the voters are evolving.” A closed primary also disincentivizes candidates from working with the other party on legislation. Nebraska and California have made the shift to open primaries and are seeing major changes in how parties work together.

Related: Georgia’s secretary of state has launched an investigation into the state’s election “catastrophe” this week in largely minority areas.