Investigating Police Misconduct
In many communities served by public defenders
problematic encounters with the police are a perennial problem. Because
defenders are often the first observers of clients after arrest, they
are in a unique position to see the effect of misconduct and abuse, and
to document it. A defender in Bridgeport, Connecticut, has a proposal
for creating a "copwatch" data base to track cases of suspected excess
force by police and compile data regarding the circumstances of a
defendant’s arrest and injury. In Seattle, Washington, the Defender
Association’s Racial Disparity Project challenged discriminatory
deployment of officers for "buy-bust" operations in communities of
color. Defenders are also in a position to help members of the
communities they serve avoid bad encounters with the police.
Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem sends community outreach
workers into the neighborhood to train community members, especially
young people, about their rights when interacting with police. And, in
Charlottesville-Albemarle, the Public Defender and the Citizens
Advisory Committee is improving interactions between police and people
with mental illness.
