Navigating Public Safety Task Forces

A Guide From The Ground

August 2021

This guide from the ground gathers lessons and victories from organizers who called for and engaged with public safety task forces in the year following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the 2020 uprisings against police violence — as well as in the decade before that. It is intended to support communities navigating common questions, taking into account the particular conditions of their own communities. 

• Should we call for the creation of a city, county or state task force to address questions of public safety as part of a larger campaign to defund police and invest in communities?

• Should we engage with task forces created by policymakers independent of community demands?

• If we decide to engage with a task force, what conditions should we insist on?

• If we decide not to officially engage with a task force, how should we relate to its existence?

Public safety task forces are key sites of struggle as communities across the country work to redirect the flow of funds and resources from systems of policing and punishment into resourcing communities’ basic needs and the health, education, and physical infrastructure needed to create genuine and lasting safety. Regardless of our perspectives on the legitimacy of public safety task forces, or the politicians who create them, the approach we take to them — demand, engage, ignore, or delegitimize — should serve our longer term campaign goals.

In this guide, we offer key questions, considerations, and lessons from organizers who have called for, engaged, and refused public safety task forces. It is based on conversations with organizers and facilitators in 7 cities: Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX, Durham, NC, Los Angeles, CA, New York City, NY, Oakland, CA, and Seattle, WA, and publicly available information about Austin, TX.