Op-Eds

California needs to better regulate surveillance

Data from the Oakland Police Department showed that license plate readers were disproportionately dispatched in low-income communities and communities of racial minorities. This can create a “chilling effect” on the freedom of expression of minority groups. And it can reinforce already stigmatized communities by creating a “feedback loop” in which police are repeatedly sent to a particular neighborhood regardless of that neighborhood’s true crime rate.
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Op-Eds

Urban Shield is unnecessary and beyond repair

The Urban Shield program does not reflect our needs. In the past decade, rather than confronting terrorist threats, the police department has trended toward facing high-risk searches, arrest warrant services, patrol support and crowd management. The tactical exercises at Urban Shield do not focus on these activities but instead on politically motivated mass violence, obscuring the principle of de-escalation in community crime encounters.
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