This update to our 2017 report on patterns of excessive force by police in Kern County documents Bakersfield Police Department’s ("BPD") continued use of unconstitutional practices, including excessive force and use of canines to attack and seriously injure members of the public. Updated data in the report confirms that BPD remains one of the deadliest police departments in California and the country and continues to use criminal charges, such as “resisting arrest," to preempt and defend against allegations of excessive force or racial profiling.
Deficient oversight and accountability structures have allowed law enforcement misconduct to go unchecked and in some cases escalate. Changes to BPD policies, training, and institutional structures are therefore required to ensure that officers carry out their duties lawfully, ethically, and safely — consistent with the Constitution and respect for the sanctity of life.
READ THE FULL REPORT FOR MORE.
If you've experienced excessive force or other violations of your rights by Bakersfield Police Department officers or Kern County Sheriff's Office deputies, please let us know.
Date
Thursday, August 12, 2021 - 10:00am
Featured image
Show featured image
Hide banner image
Documents
Show related content
Tweet Text
[node:title]
Share Image
Type
Menu parent dynamic listing
Show PDF in viewer on page
Style
Standard with sidebar
Show list numbers
Report Analyzes Criminalization and Displacement of Unhoused People in Lancaster
Unhoused residents in Lancaster, a sprawling community along the northern outskirts of Los Angeles County, must somehow find a way to survive the harsh climate of the Mojave Desert. Instead of ensuring that all residents have access to life-saving housing and services, city officials’ primary response has been to organize a dragnet of aggressive enforcement designed to cite and jail community members for being unhoused and banish them to the high desert in unincorporated Los Angeles County.
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) officers are contracted to provide police services in Lancaster, and as part of this function, they enforce the ordinances that criminalize homelessness. They also use their authority to harass and banish unhoused community members to the high desert by threat of citation.
An investigation by the ACLU SoCal finds that Lancaster’s campaign to criminalize and banish its unhoused community members is not only cruel—it is also potentially deadly. Furthermore, it is unlawful.
Banished and Abandoned: Criminalization and Displacement of Unhoused People in Lancaster is compiled from interviews with 53 unhoused Lancaster residents, engagement with local activists and organizations working on homelessness issues in the region, and a review of thousands of publicly available records.
Date
Monday, February 22, 2021 - 9:15am
Featured image
Show featured image
Hide banner image
Related issues
Economic Justice
Houselessness
Documents
Show related content
Pinned related content
Lancaster Sued Over Unlawful Citation System Targeting Poor People
Tweet Text
[node:title]
Share Image
Type
Menu parent dynamic listing
Show PDF in viewer on page
Style
Standard with sidebar
In 2019, youth leaders at Gente Organizada discovered that their school district was illegally spending funds reserved for foster youth, English learners, and low-income students (“high-need students”) on school police and security. Outraged, the students organized and ran a campaign to stop it. After months of advocacy, they ultimately convinced their district to stop spending those funds on law enforcement and to reinvest them instead in additional counselors.
Concerned about how common such illegal spending might be, Gente Organizada, Public Advocates, and the ACLU Foundations of California launched an investigation looking at how all 136 school districts in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties were spending their funds. The study uncovered a disturbing trend: more than 40% of the school districts were illegally spending funds meant for high-need students on law enforcement or other school hardening measures, costing more than a million high-need California students their right to tens of millions of dollars in positive supports and services.
The groups documented their findings in a February 2020 report, Our Right to Resources: School Districts are Cheating High-Need Students by Funding Law Enforcement, which examines the true cost of such illegal spending, including the harmful impacts the presence of law enforcement in schools has on high-need students and students of color. The report also proposes alternative, evidence-based solutions that effectively support high-need students, such as school-based health and mental health resources (e.g., school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and school nurses), restorative justice programs, and positive behavior interventions and supports.
For an overview of the findings and recommendations, download a 2-page summary of the report (available in Spanish).
Download the full report.
Download the Appendixes, which include a description of the methodology and related data.
Use this map to see if your school district is illegally spending money meant for high-need students:
You and your community can take action.
Date
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 - 6:45pm
Featured image
Show featured image
Hide banner image
Related issues
Education Equity
Documents
Show related content
Tweet Text
[node:title]
Type
Menu parent dynamic listing
Show PDF in viewer on page
Style
Standard with sidebar
Pages
