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Liberty Link: ACLU-WA Urges Spokane to Strengthen Police Body Camera Policies

Published: 
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
By the end of the summer, the Spokane Police Department (SPD) will begin using officer-worn cameras as part of a pilot program. While the ACLU-WA has supported the use of body cameras for accountability purposes, we recently expressed concern that the SPD’s draft policies do not adequately protect individual privacy or ensure effective oversight.
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Proving that we can do better than prohibition: Washington makes history

Published: 
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
ACLU-WA Criminal Justice Director Alison Holcomb spoke at the historic opening of the first legally-licensed marijuana retail store in Seattle along with with business owner James Lathrop and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes.  Her comments acknowledge both the failures of prohibition and the efforts of so many to replace it with a system that works. 
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Ensuring the Community Has a Voice in Police Reform

Published: 
Monday, July 7, 2014
Established to provide a community voice in the police reform process, Seattle’s Community Police Commission (CPC) is a unique body for an American city.  It consists of 15 members, appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council, drawn from a large variety of backgrounds and with expertise pertaining to just policing.
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The Housing Crash and Racial Disproportionality

Published: 
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Racial disproportion is endemic in America. A new report on the impact of the housing crash provides fresh evidence of how families of different races are impacted disparately by economic forces. 
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Insurance Commissioner Makes It Clear: Transgender Discrimination Is Illegal

Published: 
Friday, June 27, 2014
The ACLU of Washington applauds WA Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler for his recent action supporting the rights of transgender people. Kreidler wrote to health insurance companies on Wednesday to make clear that it is illegal to discriminate against transgender policyholders under state and federal law.
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Greenwald Speaks: Snowden and Demonizing Dissent

Published: 
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
In June of 2013, NSA contractor Edward Snowden famously leaked knowledge of systematic government spying to journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian. Over the next year, Greenwald assembled his insights about government spying and Snowden into a book titled No Place to Hide. On a book tour, he recently spoke to a packed house at Seattle’s Town Hall.
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Liberty Link: Guess Where Seattle’s Police Drones Ended Up?

Published: 
Friday, June 20, 2014
Have you wondered where Seattle’s police drones are? How about … Los Angeles? In an aptly named article “Game of Drones” in the LA Weekly, Seattle journalist Rick Anderson chronicles how the Los Angeles Police Department acquired the two 3.5 Draganflyer X6 drones as a gift from the Seattle Police Department.
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Focus Cop Cams on Police Accountability

Published: 
Thursday, June 19, 2014
When people hear that their police department is considering equipping officers with body cameras, their initial reaction is likely to be “Good!”  Many instances of police misconduct have come to light over the years because someone recorded the incident with a mobile camera. So having a camera attached to each officer seems like a great way to ensure accountability.
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Michael Marchesini: A Holistic Approach to Social Change

Published: 
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Legal intern Michael Marchesini is excited to be working on criminal justice and voting rights for the ACLU in his home state. He is proud of Washington for its recent advances in civil liberties, including marriage equality and marijuana legalization, as well as the Governor’s moratorium on the death penalty and the ACLU’s work against debtors’ prisons.
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Stephanie Llanes: Fighting to Achieve MLK’s “Beloved Community”

Published: 
Friday, June 6, 2014
Stephanie Llanes has come a long way from where she started. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Orlando, she just finished her first year at Berkeley Law School – the first in her family to attend college.
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Schools: Don’t Show the Door to Pregnant Students, Make Them Feel Welcome

Published: 
Thursday, May 29, 2014
May has been National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month—a month-long opportunity for parents, schools, policy-makers, and organizations to promote and support effective teen pregnancy prevention initiatives. As becoming pregnant as a teen is a significant stumbling block to a financially secure future, measures devoted to preventing teen pregnancy certainly are important.
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Liberty Link: Jailed Immigrants as a Pool of Cheap Labor

Published: 
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
A terrific article in the New York Times calls out government officials for using detained immigrants as extremely cheap labor at federal detention centers. For performing such essential tasks as preparing meals, scrubbing bathrooms, and buffing hallways, the jailed workers are paid all of 13 cents an hour (i.e., a dollar a day) – far less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour that would be paid to contractors.
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