No Police Union Money Pledge
Why should you take the No Police Money Pledge?
Founding American principles like justice and equality are absent from contemporary police institutions. The recent killings of unarmed black folk like George Floyd and many others renewed scrutiny of police policies and practices that consistently deny black individuals justice and equality. Five years ago, after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, activists called for police reforms at all levels of government. Yet today, activists are requesting the same reforms from their government. Why haven’t governments passed promised reform? Police unions like the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) and the Fraternal Order of the Police (FOP) use their lobbying power to block necessary police reforms. In the past forty years, police unions have spent over five and a half million dollars lobbying legislators in New Jersey. Though Democratic legislators often claim to support police reforms, Democrats overwhelmingly take more money from police unions than Republicans. Of the over five and a half million dollars spent by police unions to lobby legislators in New Jersey, Democrats accepted around three and a half million of those dollars. Even as New Jersey’s Attorney General has allowed the release of previously confidential records of officers who have been suspended, terminated, or demoted, police unions like the New Jersey State PBA are decrying the Attorney General’s order and filing suit against the state. But Democratic legislators still accept money from police unions and justice and equality will continue to be denied. If our legislators refuse to rein in the power of police unions, we must take it upon ourselves to do so. When our elected officials refuse to stop taking police money, we should refuse to vote for them. Sign the No Police Money Pledge to ensure our elected representative pass police reforms that reflect justice and equality.
