Mothers Against Police Brutality’s Weekly Digest
20 August 2026
| Dear MAPB Friends and Supporters, Welcome to the twelfth edition of our series highlighting developments related to policing, police violence, accountability efforts, protest repression, and community resistance. Our sharing of these articles does not constitute an endorsement of their content, we only aim to spread awareness about current events. We are including updates about ICE abuses because ICE is also law enforcement. If you want to submit a news update for the bulletin, please email Alli@mapbdallas.com. If you were forwarded this email and want to sign up for our updates, visit the MAPB website. |
| Trump put thousands of soldiers on Washington’s streets. They seldom stop crime August 19, 2026. Washington DC. Reuters. Reuters found the Guard mentioned in only a tiny fraction — 1.3% — of criminal prosecutions in a year-long deployment. Trump administration projects that sending troops to Washington will cost $1.4 billion through 2029. Soldiers mostly responded to incidents in wealthier, whiter areas and were absent from neighborhoods where 82% of murders take place. ICE pitches legal insurance to help shield local officers who make immigration arrests August 17, 2026. USA. AP News. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is pitching a plan to help shield local police officers who make immigration arrests from possible financial consequences if they are accused of on-duty misconduct. The agency is proposing to subsidize liability insurance for state and local officers who are trained and deputized to enforce federal immigration laws, according to a planning document published Friday. ICE’s partnerships with local departments have soared since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year and may get an additional boost with liability insurance by removing a hurdle that has made some local police departments reluctant to join. US Circuit Court Protects People’s Right to Record Police in Public August 18, 2026. USA. Peta Pixel In Massimino v. Benoit, No. 25-1104 (2d Cir. Aug. 17, 2026), Keith Massimino alleges that two police officers, Matthew Benoit and Frank Laone, violated his rights under the First and Fourth Amendments by detaining him while he recording the exterior of a police department building all the way back in 2018. The Second Circuit’s ruling applies only to the states of Vermont, Connecticut, and New York, although the latter is especially important. Flock camera scandals prompt company to make changes August 13, 2026. USA Today Flock Safety announced new mandatory safeguards for its license‑plate reader system to curb police misuse after multiple scandals, requiring reasons for searches, expanding audit tools and limiting data retention. Flock Safety operates about 120,000 cameras in 49 states, serving more than 6,000 law‑enforcement agencies. On Aug. 13, 2026 the company announced that all customers must use its audit‑assistance tool, which flags abnormal license‑plate searches and new rules preventing vague justifications. Trump’s ICE nominee helped lead one of the nation’s most sweeping crackdowns August 19, 2026. Oklahoma. The Washington Post. Lance Schroyer’s work to deputize Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers as immigration agents offers a glimpse of what he might do if confirmed as the next ICE director. ICE had 135 active agreements with local police departments across 16 states when President Joe Biden left office in January of last year. These 287 agreements, named after the section of immigration law that established the partnership program, empower police officers to find and arrest people who are not in the country legally. Now there are more than 2,300 agencies signed up — including nearly 100 in Oklahoma. ICE violence against women is largely untracked. One advocacy group is working to change that. August 18, 2026. USA. The 19th. Immigration agents with prior records of sexual and gender-based violence have drawn attention in Trump’s second term amid questions about training and vetting. No comprehensive, publicly available data exists tracking immigration agents who have a record of violence against women and children. One organization is attempting to fill some of that gap. The Ohio Immigrant Alliance, a grassroots advocacy group, has compiled a list of 152 agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) who have either faced administrative disciplinary action or criminal penalties for allegations of violent crimes. |
| Mothers Against Police Brutality (MAPB) Mothers Against Police Brutality (MAPB) is a Dallas-based multi-generational, multi-racial, and multi-ethnic coalition uniting people nationally, to hold law enforcement agencies more accountable. Collette Flanagan founded MAPB in 2013 after her son, Clinton Allen, an unarmed young Black man in custody, was shot to death by a Dallas police officer. Transforming grief into determination, Flanagan and MAPB are leading the charge to change deadly force policy in Dallas and throughout the U.S.; to lifting up families who have lost loved ones to police violence; and to reimagining public safety, divesting from police departments and investing in the health, housing, household incomes, human rights, creative arts, and overall well-being of our communities. www.mothersagainstpolicebrutality.org |
