Law Enforcement Action Partnership

The Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), formerly Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization 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,{{Update inline|date=January 2024}} they have more than 180 representatives around the world{{Cite news|url=https://www.virgin.com/virgin-unite/launching-leap-uk-houses-parliament-leap-day|title=Launching LEAP UK in the Houses of Parliament on Leap Day|last=CSheffield|date=2016-02-29|work=Virgin|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en}} who speak on behalf of over 5,000 law enforcement members and 100,000 supporters.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.guidestar.org/profile/16-1645758|title=LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTION PARTNERSHIP, INC. - GuideStar Profile|website=www2.guidestar.org|language=en|access-date=2017-11-27}}

The organization transitioned from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition into the Law Enforcement Action Partnership in January 2017.{{Cite web|url=http://copssaylegalize.blogspot.com/|title=Law Enforcement Against Prohibition|website=copssaylegalize.blogspot.com|access-date=2017-11-27}} They previously focused on ending the War on Drugs{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/us/officers-punished-for-supporting-eased-drug-laws.html|title=Police officers find that dissent on drug laws may come with a price|date=2011-12-02|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2017-11-24}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=5|title=LEAP - Publications › LEAP Items › LEAP's Mission Statement|date=2008-09-13|access-date=2017-11-27|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913235116/http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=5|archive-date=2008-09-13}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.leap.cc/about/who-we-are/|title=Who We Are | LEAP|date=2002-03-16|website=Leap.cc|access-date=2017-11-24}}

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,{{Cite web|url=https://anniemachon.ch/annie_machon/category/united-nations|title=United Nations - Using Our Intelligence - Annie Machon|website=anniemachon.ch|date=29 December 2015 |language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-27}} and have been featured in many top U.S. media outlets.{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/neill-franklin|title=Maj. Neill Franklin (Ret.) {{!}}|website=www.huffingtonpost.com|publisher=HuffPost|language=en|access-date=2017-11-27}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2016/07/10/485460453/former-police-chief-has-a-plan-for-how-to-fix-americas-police|title=Former Police Chief Has A Plan For 'How To Fix America's Police'|work=NPR|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en}}{{Citation|last=Law Enforcement Action Partnership|title=Norm Stamper tells MSNBC about the corruption brought by the War on Drugs|date=2014-03-04|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYUMX0R9efU |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311170044/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYUMX0R9efU&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=2014-03-11 |url-status=dead|access-date=2017-11-27}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.cc.com/video-clips/ukyqb3/the-colbert-report-police-militarization-in-america---norm-stamper|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929192615/http://www.cc.com/video-clips/ukyqb3/the-colbert-report-police-militarization-in-america---norm-stamper|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 29, 2015|title=Police Militarization in America - Norm Stamper - The Colbert Report|website=Comedy Central|date=3 September 2014 |access-date=2017-11-27}}{{Citation|last=Law Enforcement Action Partnership|title=LEAP's Neill Franklin on CNN|date=2013-08-19|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji6Wd5m4euY |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819232821/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji6Wd5m4euY |archive-date=2013-08-19 |url-status=dead|access-date=2017-11-27}}

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{{Cite web|url=http://criminaljusticelaw.org/enforcement/police-history/peels-nine-principles-policing/|title=Fundamentals of Policing|access-date=2017-11-23}} 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.{{Cite news|url=http://www.reformer.com/stories/incarceration-nation-events-spotlight-movement-to-end-mass-incarceration,497953|title=Incarceration Nation: Events spotlight movement to end mass incarceration|work=The Brattleboro Reformer|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en}}

= Harm Reduction =

LEAP supports harm reduction programs, which reduce the negative personal and societal consequences of drug use, including Supervised Injection Facilities, Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), heroin-assisted treatment, Medication Assisted Treatment, syringe exchange programs, expanded naloxone access, and treatment on demand. Until 2020 LEAP was the fiscal sponsor for the Influence Foundation, which operates the harm reduction publication Filter.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tobaccotactics.org/article/the-influence-foundation/|title=The Influence Foundation|website=Tobacco Tactics}}{{Cite web|url=https://filtermag.org/about-the-influence-foundation/|title=About The Influence Foundation}}

= The War on Drugs =

File:LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.jpg

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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.globaldrugpolicy.org/Issues/Vol%2010%20Issue%202/Previous%20Issue/Previous%20Issue%20Full.pdf|title=The journal of global drug policy and practice|last=Lopey|first=John|date=2016|website=globaldrugpolicy.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110094911/http://globaldrugpolicy.org/Issues/Vol%2010%20Issue%202/Previous%20Issue/Previous%20Issue%20Full.pdf|archive-date=2017-01-10|url-status=dead|access-date=27 November 2017}}

= 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{{Cite web|url=https://lawenforcementactionpartnership.org/board/|title=Meet the Board of Directors – Law Enforcement Action Partnership|website=lawenforcementactionpartnership.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-24}} is chaired by Lt. Diane Goldstein (Ret.) of the Redondo Beach Police Department in California. Board members include: Inge Fryklund, former Assistant State's Attorney in Chicago; Stephen Gutwillig, a professional nonprofit organizational development consultant; Jody David Armour, Professor of Law at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; executive director Maj. Neill Franklin (Ret.) of the Baltimore and Maryland State Police Departments; Capt. Leigh Maddox (Ret.) of the Maryland State Police; Allison Watson, former Assistant District Attorney in Knoxville, Tennessee; and Det. Sergeant Neil Woods (Ret.) of Derbyshire, England.

=Advisory board=

The advisory board of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition consists of Romesh Bhattacharji, former drug czar (India); Vince Cain, former Chief Coroner of British Columbia and retired RCMP chief superintendent (Canada); Senator Larry Campbell, former mayor of Vancouver and retired RCMP officer (Canada); retired Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Crispin (Australia), Member of Parliament Libby Davies (Canada); Carel Edwards, former anti-drug coordinator for the European Union; U.S. District Court Judge Warren William Eginton; Gustavo de Greiff, former attorney general of Colombia; Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico; Judge John L. Kane Jr., United States District Court for the District of Colorado; Justice Ketil Lund, retired Supreme Court Justice from Norway; Sheriff Bill Masters, Colorado; Joseph McNamara, retired police chief of the San Jose Police Department; Norm Stamper, retired police chief of the Seattle Police Department; Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation; Thomas P. Sullivan, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert W. Sweet, Senior Judge of the US District Court Southern District of New York; Hans van Dujin, retired Dutch police union president (the Netherlands); Francis Wilkinson, former Chief Constable of the Gwent Police Force (United Kingdom); and Justice C. Ross (Ret.), former British Columbia Supreme Court judge (Canada).{{Cite web|url=https://lawenforcementactionpartnership.org/advisory-board/|title=Advisory Board|website=lawenforcementactionpartnership.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-27}}

=Speakers bureau=

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,{{Cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/11/opinion/frieling-pot-colorado-success/index.html|title=Pot is legal and sky hasn't fallen|last=Frieling|first=Leonard|work=CNN|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en-US}} prosecutors, prison wardens and other corrections officials, parole and probation officers, and FBI and DEA agents.{{Cite web|url=https://lawenforcementactionpartnership.org/category/speakers/|title=Speakers – Law Enforcement Action Partnership|website=lawenforcementactionpartnership.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-27}}

= Activities =

=Media=

Each year, speakers conduct hundreds of interviews with outlets across the country, including AP, Newsweek,{{Cite news|url=http://www.newsweek.com/drug-legalization-major-major-neill-franklin-baltimore-police-department-369822|title=The Former Top Cop Who Wants to Legalize Drugs|date=2015-09-10|work=Newsweek|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en}} BBC,{{Citation|last=LEAP UK|title=LEAP UK's Neil Woods on BBC Breakfast discussing 'spice'|date=2017-04-19|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=214&v=-kuYpuEIr_0|access-date=2017-11-27}} The Washington Post,{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/maryland-lawmaker-calls-for-state-to-exit-drug-war-focus-on-treatment/2016/02/05/db4f4476-cc34-11e5-a7b2-5a2f824b02c9_story.html|title=Maryland lawmaker calls for state to exit drug war, focus on treatment|last=Hicks|first=Josh|date=2016-02-05|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}} FOX News,{{cite web|url=http://video.foxnews.com/v/4389739/last-minute-push-for-prop-19/?playlist_id=86912|title=Last-Minute Push for Prop 19 | On Air Videos ||website=Video.foxnews.com|publisher=Fox News|access-date=2016-08-08|archive-date=2016-08-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820060936/http://video.foxnews.com/v/4389739/last-minute-push-for-prop-19/?playlist_id=86912|url-status=dead}} CNN,{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItMcwldPOFA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112011405/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItMcwldPOFA |archive-date=2012-11-12 |url-status=dead|title=Cop Says Legal Marijuana Makes Communities Safer|date=2012-11-09|publisher=YouTube|access-date=2016-08-08}} The Atlantic,{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/11/Bill-de-blasio-new-nypd-marijuana-ticket-summons/382578/|title=New York City's Incomplete Marijuana Reform|last=Schiavenza|first=Matt|work=The Atlantic|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en-US}} The Intercept, Reason magazine,{{Cite news|url=http://reason.com/reasontv/2016/08/18/leaps-neil-franklin-on-police-encounters|title=Ex Top Cop: We Need a New Model of Policing|date=2016-08-18|work=Reason.com|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en}} The Hill,{{Cite news|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/judicial/289201-black-lives-matter-and-blue-lives-matter-are-not-mutually/|title=Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter are not mutually exclusive|last=Jordan|first=Chuck|date=2016-07-26|work=The Hill|access-date=2017-11-27}} The Guardian,{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/26/neil-woods-undercover-cop-who-abandoned-the-war-on-drugs|title='I've done really bad things': The undercover cop who abandoned the war on drugs|last=Aitkenhead|first=Decca|date=2016-08-26|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} The Washington Times, The Los Angeles Times,{{Cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/business/la-oew-cole21sep21-story.html|title=Drug war takes a flying LEAP|date=2007-09-21|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}} and others. They are regularly featured in documentaries, viral social media content, and local radio and TV segments.

= Events =

Representatives are regularly involved in speaking engagements in state legislatures and at press conferences, civic clubs, conferences and universities.

Funding

LEAP has received funding from tobacco companies.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/biden-criticized-no-ban-menthol-cigarettes-trump-rcna189609|title=Biden criticized for failing to ban menthol cigarettes after Trump withdraws proposal|date=January 29, 2025|website=NBC News}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.statnews.com/2022/11/17/comments-gas-station-tobacco-companies-menthol-ban/|title=To gin up opposition to the proposed menthol ban, tobacco companies are turning to gas station ads|first=Nicholas|last=Florko|work=Stat|date=November 17, 2022}} In 2017 more than a third of its funding came from Reynolds American.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2022-04-25/inside-the-menthol-cigarette-lobbying-machine/|title=Paid protesters, free lunches and backroom chats: Inside the menthol…|work=The Bureau of Investigative Journalism}}