Alyshia’s Fight for Racial Justice Is Our Fight
End Unnecessary Traffic Stops and Ticket Quotas
Washtenaw County Deputy Sheriffs are placed in a high-pressure quota system, in which there is administrative pressure to make more traffic stops and write more tickets.
This directly contributes to massive racial disparities in arrests, with data showing the Sheriff's Office arrests Black people at 11.1 times the rate of white people for non-violent, low-level offenses.
The Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office has been using contract policing which generates revenue for local municipalities through tickets, fines, and fees for decades. The Department of Justice found that this practice caused significant oppression of the Black community in Ferguson. Notably, using policing for revenue generation disproportionately harms Black women – especially Black mothers – who often shoulder the financial burdens of fines and fees.
Alyshia will end the Sheriff's Office's administrative quotas, taking unneeded pressure to meet arbitrary numbers away from officers whenever possible. Alyshia also supports enacting a policy that prevents deputies from pulling over people for minor traffic offenses that do not pose a safety risk.
End Coercive Interrogation Techniques
In 1989, five Black and Latino boys, known as the Central Park Five (now rightfully known as the Exonerated Five) were wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting a woman who was jogging. During the investigation, a deceptive and confrontational interrogation technique called the Reid technique was used, coercing the boys into falsely confessing to the crime.
After 35 years and countless scientific studies, groups including police consulting agencies, state legislatures, and civil liberties organizations have taken a stand against coercive interrogation techniques, like the Reid technique, because they lead to innocent people falsely confessing to crimes. Despite this, the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office still trains deputies to use the same investigation technique that was used to wrongfully convict the Exonerated (Central Park) Five and many others. Over the last five years, the Sheriff’s Office administration has not only continued Reid interrogation training, they have increased their spending for it by 280%.
Alyshia will bring the Sheriff's Office's interviewing techniques into the 21st century by replacing the coercive Reid interrogation technique with the internationally respected and non-coercive PEACE method of investigation. She will use the relationships she has built with experts to provide deputies with the training they need to be successful in implementing this model. (From her website)
Find other campaign issues here.
Alyshia Dyer for County Sheriff 2024. Many campaign volunteers wearing yellow campaign T-shirts and holding signs "Alyshia Dyer for County Sheriff" stand around Alyshia on a sunny day.
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Thank you, my friends, for supporting the people of Washtenaw County, Michigan.
In solidarity,
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Washtenaw County, Michigan
