The Policing Project at NYU School of Law has released a new model statute and upcoming webinar to build accountability for law enforcement and improve public safety through state and local legislation.
The statute – An Act to Remove Barriers to Accountability and Facilitate Robust Oversight – is designed to remove certain barriers to accountability that provide law enforcement with special protections against investigation and discipline. Those protections, which far exceed those enjoyed by other civil servants and hamper legitimate internal misconduct investigations, are often written into state law as part of a Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights (LEOBOR) or included as individual provisions in a police collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
These barriers to accountability are a widespread problem: more than twenty states have some form of LEOBOR on the books and a review of 178 law enforcement CBAs found that 88 percent contained at least one provision that could meaningfully hinder discipline. Each day, however, more cities and states are taking steps to remove these provisions and improve accountability and public safety.
For more information on the statute, read our section-by-section summary, our explainer, our FAQ document, and a checklist to see what these provisions look like when codified.
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Join us for a webinar on September 24 at 3:00 pm ET – featuring Reneé Hall, former Dallas Police Chief; Victor Dempsey, community organizer at the Legal Defense Fund; and Stephen Rushin, Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law – on our model statute and how state and local legislation can remove these dangerous and unfair barriers to accountability and public safety.
This program has been approved for one New York State CLE credit in the category of Areas of Professional Practice. The credit is both transitional and non-transitional; it is appropriate for both experienced and newly admitted attorneys.
Register here.