An interactive map documenting efforts to build cop city training complexes around the US, including a spreadsheet with relevant information. As of February 17, 2024, the spreadsheet provides information on any project related to the assessment, planning, approval, construction, or opening of a renovation or expansion of a Public Safety, Police Training, Academy, or Department in any state.

This edition updates those findings through the 2022-23 school year with analysis of 372 assaults and includes additional data points, such as the geographic region in which assaults occurred and whether the assault was carried out by a sworn police officer or security guard. This edition also provides analysis specifically for the 2022-23 school year. These updated findings highlight the extent to which policing students places them at risk of both physical assault and sexual violence perpetrated by school police and security guards.

This report highlights the disproportionate arrests of Black and Latinx youth by the Pomona Police Department (PPD). Our goal is to center the malpractices of a police department that does not receive the same attention as a large metropolitan police department yet suffers from similar systemic issues of racial injustice and police brutality. In response to the question “Where is justice needed most?” justice is needed most for Black and Latinx youth in Pomona, California. We honor the work of youth, parents, and community activists, as well as a social action nonprofit organization, Gente Organizada, who together have demanded accountability from its city leaders and PPD for the mistreatment of youth.

This text is adapted from “So You Wanna Be a Cop?”, a pamphlet published by the War Resisters League.

Would you wear a uniform that evokes fear & distrust in your neighbors?
Would you risk your mental well-being, affecting you & your loved ones?
Would you be comfortable with helping send someone to prison for years because of a petty parole violation or non-violent offence?
Would you participate in actions that split apart families?
Are there other ways you can build safety, beyond policing, in your community?
YOU DESERVE THE TRUTH
Recruiters have a seductive pitch, tapping into our real needs for stable employment & strong desire for safer communities. Maybe you’ve already heard it: “Become a police officer today! It’s an honest, secure career devoted to protecting minorities & building partnerships with community. We need people like you to improve our police force and bring justice in & outside the department.”

Building on decades of counter-military recruitment activism and resource-making, WRL presents this ground-breaking counter-police recruitment resource. Similar to military recruiter lies, police recruiters and branding use strategies to recruit young people, targeting youth of color and poor youth in the promotion of law enforcement careers.

So You Wanna Be A Cop questions recruiter lies, debunking them with the truths of policing and police careers, and encourages visions of young people pursuing careers and lives that build actual community safety, not carceral, racist and classist versions of safety.

This website was inspired by decades of work by grassroots movements, journalists, civil rights attorneys, academics and policy makers that have advocated for learning from litigation data to improve policing policies, trainings, early intervention systems and accountability. The data was collected by The Legal Aid Society’s Special Litigation Unit Cop Accountability Project team, led by Cynthia Conti-Cook and Julie Ciccolini. It was first collected for Legal Aid’s Criminal Defense Practice defenders and the thousands of clients we serve every year all over the City.