We envision communities, not law enforcement associations, having the power to determine their own public safety priorities, policy, and budgets.
The Police Accountability Legal Center (PALC or The Legal Center) is a coalition of legal, policy, and research organizations engaging in multi-prong litigation, policy advocacy, and communications strategies that erode the power of law enforcement associations. Our goal is to help create new pathways for communities to shape safety, justice, and accountability.
Areas of Work
Legislative Research
Monitor trends in state and federal legislation with regard to law enforcement associations.
Provide research, expertise, and strategic support for legislative and regulatory advocacy work of criminal justice reform advocates and lawyers.
Litigation Technical Assistance
Support learning and sharpening of legal analysis and identify viable litigation strategies.
Provide legal research and support for lawyers engaged in impact litigation that erodes the power of law enforcement associations in order to increase law enforcement accountability, limit the role of policing, or divest from carceral systems.
Facilitate training for reform advocates and movement-aligned attorneys.
Strategic Communications
Connect litigation strategies to strategic communications in order to advance public narratives.
Facilitate developing legislative talking points and messaging for elected officials and advocates.
“We must not pretend that the countless people who are routinely targeted by police are "isolated." They are the canaries in the coal mine whose deaths, civil and literal, warn us that no one can breathe in this atmosphere.”
– Justice Sonia Sotomayor