Tuesday, August 7th, communities across the country are gathering in resistance to the police-sponsored “National Night Out” BBQs and block parties and hosting their own “Night Out for Safety and Liberation.” Critical Resistance has been part of this effort since 2014, and humbly shifting common sense away from policing and social control since 1998. Below are a collection of resources and tools to amplify alternatives to policing, begin some skill-building and practices to [begin] rely[ing] on your community instead of the police.
Please share these tools widely, repost on social media, and print out for your people, local coffeeshop, bookstore or community center. Reach out to us if you would like some mailed to you. Also, be sure to check out the new Oakland Power Projects website, where we will continue posting resources and opportunities to reduce reliance on policing.
Know Your Options: Healthcare
What
A toolkit that shares basic health skills and emergency response practices, geared towards reducing reliance on policing and to buffer against the harms of law enforcement arriving with other 911 emergency response teams. Based on workshops and materials developed by the Anti-Policing Healthworkers Cohort of The Oakland Power Projects.
For Who
Organizers, community members, or health workers who want to skill up and reduce the harms of law enforcement. Also a great primer on policing!
Format
View the PDF online or email us for a print version. You can also print this one on 8.5×11 paper yourself.
Abolitionist Reforms Chart
What
A chart that discusses reforms that expand policing vs reforms that reduce the role of policing in our lives and its violence.
For Who
Organizers, community members, & anyone grappling with ways to demand practical steps towards ending the violence of policing.
Format
View the PDF online or email crnational@criticalresistance.org for a print version. You can also print this one on 11×17 paper yourself.
Decoupling Policing from Emergency Preparedness
What
A report that explores the real emergencies that communities of color in the Bay area face and recommendations for people-centered emergency preparedness programs.
For Who
Organizers, community folks, anyone grappling who wants to think about skilling folks up without relying on miltiarization and policing.
Format
View the PDF online. You can print this one on 8.5×11 paper yourself.
Articles and videos from our comrades
– Standing Up for Our Communities: Why We Need a Police-Free Future, by Rachel Herzing.
– Build the Block: Developing Alternatives to Policing in the Arab and Muslim Community, by Rachel Herzing for Build the Block, in collaboration with Arab Resource and Organizing Center.
– The Safe OUTside the System (SOS) Party Toolkit. The Safe Party Toolkit is a collection of strategies generated by 3 generations of SOS members and staff to build safety in party spaces without relying on the police or state systems.
Breaking Down the Prison Industrial Complex video project
What is Policing? How Does Criminalization Work?