In the midst of civil unrest, the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), formerly known as Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (of cannabis), this week issued a series of recommendations for Congress, focused on how elected officials and law enforcement officers can work together to drive transparency and accountability forward amid George Floyd protests across the country.

Benzinga talked with Kyle Kazan, one of the more than 80 former law enforcement professionals to sign an outline of recommendations.

Kazan was a Torrance Police Officer in Los Angeles. He currently serves as the CEO of cannabis company Glass House Group. He is also a longtime, outspoken critic of the War on Drugs.

“[W]e all have an obligation to speak out against police violence against communities, particularly in disenfranchised and brown and Black communities and racially biased laws that are unequally enforced,” Kazan said of LEAP’s recommendations. “Having accountability and transparency at a federal level is critical if we are to truly overhaul the way policing happens across our country.

“Making the system better will require us to address challenges like addiction and mental health issues that often police officers are ill equipped to address. Words are not good enough. We must put an end to systemic racism and stop ignoring the failed war on drugs and take action, so we finally change our approaches as a country. We believe these recommendations are some tangible ways we can begin to move forward,” he added.

LEAP’s recommendations call on Congress to establish a national standard for the use of deadly force that upholds the sanctity of human life and action on qualified immunity, a legal precedent that limits law enforcement accountability when cases go to court.

It also outlines the need for an independent, nationwide database to track police personnel records with a national licensure system; the immediate implementation of a duty-to-intervene policy in departments nationwide; mandating reporting of incidents to superiors; and ending the union contract-mandated destruction of personnel records that erase evidence of officer misconduct. 

Lead image by Ilona Szentivanyi. Copyright: Benzinga.