Community Control Over the Police

07/31/2021

Turn in petitions TODAY!
FREEDOM CORNER in the Hill District until 4pm!

07/25/2021

Yesterday volunteers from Stop The Station Pittsburgh, New Afrikan Independence Party, and Socialist Alternative Pittsburgh talked with residents in East Liberty and Homewood!

One week to go! We may be behind in gathering the necessary number of signatures, but this campaign continues to to be a success in that we've engaged thousands of our neighbors in discussions about working class community control over the police, in response to the failures and inaction of the corporate establishment. We need to urgently shift funding away from overpolicing towards afforsable housing, social services, and youth programming--things working and people need now--and to continue to build a movement to fight for this!

07/24/2021

We doorknocked through the rain last week but are in the clear for today. Join us to knock doors in East Liberty, Garfield, and Homewood!Volunteers should meet near Garland Park at N Euclid and Broad St at 12:30!

You can find us and sign at Liberty Green Park 1pm-3pm, or Jam on Walnut starting at 7pm.

07/11/2021

Thanks to everyone who helped gather signatures to put community control on the November ballot throughout the South End yesterday! The enthusiasm of our volunteers has been amazing. We've collected ~3000 signatures, and we've had as many meaningful discussions with friends, neighbors, and co-workers about our fight for working class control, to take on systemic oppression and police violence.

That also means **we need many thousands more** and all hands on deck in the last three weeks to reach our goal! We're hitting Northside next weekend, 10:30 am, at Allegheny Commons Park. You can also collect signatures on your own by starting here: linktr.ee/pittsburghccop

07/03/2021

Our independent, volunteer-led campaign for Community Control over the Police is thankful for the support of various grassroots organizations, candidates, and small businesses. We're building a broad working class movement in Pittsburgh to take on systemic racism and police violence, by fighting for a real democratic say when it comes to public safety. If you're part of an organization or union, consider joining our movement today and help us collect 25,000 signatures by August to get community control on the November ballot! ➡️ tinyurl.com/SupportCCOP

Thank you to: Stop The Station Pittsburgh, Alliance for Police Accountability-APA, Jerry Dickinson for Congress, Socialist Alternative Pittsburgh, New Afrikan Independence Party, No Cop Money PA, Penn Plaza Support and Action, Fossil Free Pitt Coalition, Connor Mulvaney for City Council District 4, Jewish Voice for Peace - Pittsburgh, Pitt Law Black Law Students Association, Political Independents of Western PA, The Black Cat Market, Rolling Pepperoni, and others!

A Statement of Support for a Democratically-Elected Civilian Council with Full Control over the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police This May, Pittsburgh voters rejected four more years of over-policing and gentrification under Mayor Peduto. They also again demonstrated the desire for police reform: refe...

07/03/2021

06/27/2021

Getting 25,000 signatures is an uphill battle for a 100% independent, volunteer-led movement to get community control over the police on the ballot. Can *you* commit to having at least 20 conversations with co-workers, neighbor, and friends over the next 6 weeks about why working people, especially communities of color, should have the power to discipline and fire abusive cops, as well as set policing policy and budgets?

Learn more and get started with our digital petitioning kit today: linktr.ee/pittsburghccop

06/26/2021

It shouldn’t take 20 million people in the streets to discipline one killer cop. The political establishment will treat this as the “closing of a chapter,” as a symbol of justice. But Chauvin's sentencing comes at the same time Biden has announced more funding towards police departments to fight a rise in crime that overpolicing failed to prevent in the first place.

There's no end to police violence as long as corporate interests dominate city agendas. Community control over the police is a step towards public safety and our economy run on the terms set forth by ordinary working people, including Black communities.

Prosecutors had asked that Chauvin receive 30 years in prison. His lawyer had sought probation.

06/23/2021

Our campaign for community control over the police is glad to have the active support of the Green Party of Allegheny County, which has been part of the Stop The Station Pittsburgh coalition. We're building a grassroots, independent movement to take on a profit-driven, undemocratic system that relies on overpolicing. Instead, we should be able to determine priorities for public safety and public funding, through genuinely democratic organizational structures that refuse corporate money and strive to empower working class and Black communities.

Photo: Stop The Station The Green Party of Pennsylvania has joined the Stop The Station coalition, an organization of local activist groups fighting for police accountability in the city of Pittsburgh, PA. It was initially formed in the summer of 2020 to fight the relocation of the Zone 5 Police Sta...

06/21/2021

Yesterday, members of Socialist Alternative gathered signatures for the grassroots campaign for Community Control Over the Police at the city’s Juneteenth celebration. We collected nearly 300 signatures in one day!

Community control over the police is essential when only 3% of allegations against officers are investigated, yet two-thirds have allegations against them. When we’ve seen the militarization of the force, and purchases of less-lethal weapons amounting to tens of thousands of dollars that weren’t even voted on by the city council! We need transparency and the involvement of the whole community, which the police are purported to serve, in order to enact change.

If you see us, sign your name and help us reach the target of 25,000 signatures by August 3rd!

06/19/2021

Yesterday members of AFSCME Local 2719 - Pittsburgh protested against recent decisions by David Ontario, the executive director of the Pittsburgh Parking Authority, and Will Pickering, the executive director of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewage Authorities, to keep city offices open during Juneteenth, despite city and state-wide recognition of it as a paid federal holiday. This underscores the crucial connection between labor and antiracist struggles, and the importance of organized, fighting unions. Many of the workers present enthusiastically supported and signed our ballot petition, and several volunteered to help collect signatures. We also talked about building a strong mass movement and what it would take to win Community Control Over the Police AND our workplaces. Solidarity!

06/19/2021

Find us collecting signatures for Community Control Over the Police at the music festival downtown! ✊🏾