The Law Enforcement Action Partnership, formerly Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is a U.S.-based 501 nonprofit group of current and former police, judges, prosecutors, and other criminal justice professionals who use their expertise to advance drug policy and criminal justice solutions that enhance public safety. The organization is modeled after Vietnam Veterans Against the War. As of April 2017, they have more than 180 representatives around the world who speak on behalf of over 5,000 law enforcement members and 100,000 supporters. The organization transitioned from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition into the Law Enforcement Action Partnership in January 2017. They previously focused on ending the War on Drugs and now discuss a broad range of issues relating to policing and criminal justice - from procedural justice practices to reducing recidivism. Their overarching message is about reducing crime and violence and improving public safety, while the issues they discuss fall into five key areas: improving police-community relations, reducing and finding alternatives to incarceration, improving access to harm reduction services, ending the War on Drugs, and global issues.
Goals
LEAP works to educate law enforcement, legislators, and the public about ways to bring about positive change in the criminal justice system. They speak to civic clubs, international conferences, and have been featured in many top U.S. media outlets.
5 Key Issue Areas
Police-Community Relations
LEAP believes the key to improving police effectiveness is to go back to the fundamental principals of modern policing laid down by Robert Peel and improve public safety by increasing police-community trust. Speakers advocate for solutions including treating officers for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; expanding police training and pay; addressing racial disparities in the justice system; abolishing stop-and-frisk practices; limiting police militarization to active shooter, hostage, and barricade incidents; ending civil asset forfeiture; and abolishing volume-based performance measures such as arrest quotas.
Incarceration
The Law Enforcement Action Partnership advocates for alternatives to arrest and incarceration as a means of reducing crime. They support reducing the use of mandatory minimum sentences, increasing the use of effective pre-booking diversion programs, increasing the use of restorative justice conferences, reforming the money-bail system, and reforming parole and probation systems. The group aims to reduce collateral consequences caused by arrest and incarceration, reduce racial disparities in sentencing and punishment, and reduce felony disenfranchisement.
LEAP pushes to end the War on Drugs and legalize and regulate all drugs from a public health perspective as a means of reducing death, disease, and addiction associated with drug use and illegal drug sales.
Global Issues
The Law Enforcement Action Partnership is dedicated to studying international criminal justice issues and practical solutions. LEAP considers domestic and international drug policies and their disastrous consequences, including violent criminal organizations, widespread corruption, suppression of free press, immigration crises, and state-sanctioned killings of drug users and dealers. LEAP looks to countries including Switzerland and Portugal for pioneering innovative drug policies focused on public health and safety.
Membership
Board of Directors
The Law Enforcement Action Partnership’s executive board is chaired by of the Redondo Beach Police Department in California. Board members include: , former Assistant State’s Attorney in Chicago; , a professional nonprofit organizational development consultant; , Professor of Law at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; executive director of the Baltimore and Maryland State Police Departments; of the Maryland State Police; , former Assistant District Attorney in Knoxville, TN; and of Derbyshire, England.
Representatives of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership are trained to speak with audiences and media outlets on behalf of the organization. They include current and former/retired police officers, military police officers, judges, prosecutors, prison wardens and other corrections officials, parole and probation officers, and FBI and DEA agents.
Representatives are regularly involved in speaking engagements in state legislatures and at press conferences, civic clubs, conferences and universities.
