World Without Police Brainstorm

Here is a list of ideas that came out of the great discussion at the World Without Police BBQ:

• Green porch lights - someone reported that in their town, people put up green lights on their porches to signal that their house is a safe space that people can come to when they need help
• Know your neighbors -  when we are connected to each other and to our neighbors we don't need police. 
• Bake pies - What better way to feel connected to your neighbors?  Bake them pies!
• Ask a favor - similarly, when people do small favors for each other, they feel more connection.  Borrow a cup of sugar for the pies you are baking!
• Oppose anti-homeless laws - cops are enforcing the criminalization of homelessness and poverty
• Guerilla benches!  Santa Cruz is steadily removing public benches because they've found that aesthetically displeasing people use them. Replace them here and here!
• Make cops unwelcome -  in general, by demonstrating that CopWatch has its eyes on police, and in particular, by making police know they are unwelcome in radical spaces and homes
• Work on ways to make people safe - safe and secure people don't need police
• Share cop stories - tell your stories about your experiences with police
• Share success stories - tell your stories about alternatives to police
• Crisis response team - create a team or infrastructure to respond to crisis, kind of a DIY 911
• Specialized conflict resolution - rather than a catch-all response team, teams specialized to handle specific issues like sexual and intimate violence
• Study transformative justice - this general conflict resolution strategy focuses on healing and root causes
• Thinking locally (not like a state) - any solutions to problem can be locally focused, and do not have to take whole regions and nation-states into account
• Discover people's needs - when people's needs are met, they are far less likely to resort to antisocial strategies
• Address issues of poverty - poor people sometimes have to resort to crime just to survive

Here were the discussion questions that inspired some of these ideas.