Authored July 2020 by:

• Against Racism in Medicine (ARM), a coalition of Brown medical students

• Code Black Rhode Island (RI)

• White Coats for Black Lives at Alpert Medical School (WC4BL@AMS)

​

Executive Summary
We, members of Against Racism in Medicine (ARM), White Coats for Black Lives at Alpert Medical School of Brown University (WC4BL@AMS), and Code Black Rhode Island (RI), stand in full support of RI community members calling to defund the Providence Police Department (PPD) and other Rhode Island police departments, and to use these funds to reinvest in communities. We write this report to offer a public health perspective in the discussion of police violence as a local and nationwide crisis. We hope that this report provides data and perspectives to support and amplify the concerns of directly-impacted communities, while raising awareness of the true public health scope of the problem of policing and the need to immediately divert funding to community-centered alternatives, including housing, healthcare, public schools, and mental health services.

​

Full text of the report can be found below in a PDF format.