After activist research group Lucy Parsons Labs and news outlet Atlanta Community Press Collective sued the Atlanta Police Foundation, they’ve received 287 pages worth of records exposing the Foundation’s influential role in the construction of Cop City. But if you don’t know what they do, that’s by design. Here are three ways they harm Black communities.
Lobbying: Though a historic referendum acquired over 116,000 community signatures, APF lobbied city council members to “squash” it. But, according to the Justice Department, such nonprofit lobbying should be “avoid[ed].”
Funding: Police foundations finance policing with “dark money” from corporations like Coca-Cola, Amazon, Microsoft, Waffle House, Delta Airlines, Target, and Walmart. Atlanta received expensive cameras around Cop City. Baltimore funded a “secret aerial surveillance program.” Philadelphia cops purchased ballistic helmets and drones. The LAPD used Palantir software to acquire our sensitive data en masse.
Copaganda: These foundations lead “rewards tiplines like ‘Crime Stoppers,’ advertising, special events, [and] media relationships." Their PR spreads disinformation about crime, boosting the image of police and normalizing their violence. After all, while the APF harms Black Atlantans, its public-facing mission is to “make Atlanta the safest large city in the nation.”
Police foundations don’t just contribute to police violence. They help orchestrate it. To learn more about foundations near you, visit https://policefoundations.org/.