The quiz used in this workshop is a lively and provocative tool for stimulating further interest in policing issues. After this workshop, participants can gather actual information about their local police that can be used for activities and analysis in subsequent workshops. This comparative analysis can serve as a backdrop for understanding and evaluating, in subsequent workshops, the programs, priorities and performance of the local police. Following the money trail can help people assess the priorities and prudence of police related spending and the links between poverty, public spending, and crime.
Participants can then develop their own proposals for effective crime prevention programs.
They then identify reasonable and unreasonable uses of force and develop alternatives to using force. If a local community oversight board exists, its history, composition and complaint process is examined. Participants then identify deficiencies in the community oversight process and develop recommendations for an effective model. Participants identify potential benefits and problems associated with such programs, then design a program they think would be effective. Then they identify proposed strategies and policies for defining the authority of the INS and protecting the rights of immigrants.