Anybody Else Out There?
July 6, 2020 11:56 AM
I've started a non profit with the mission of reducing vehicle profiling by the police by replacing burnt out bulbs on cars. I posted it on Metafilter projects. It was the simplest thing I could think of to help eliminate deaths related to those kinds of stops, like those of Philandro Castile or Walter Scott or Sandra Bland.
I've checked Guidestar and the Foundation Center, as well as a Google search, to see if a nonprofit that does what I propose to do exists and none seem to. Is there any other kind of search I can do? An interviewer asked me if anybody else is doing this, and I told them "no" based on what I'd found to that point, but I want to have a clearer picture.
I've checked Guidestar and the Foundation Center, as well as a Google search, to see if a nonprofit that does what I propose to do exists and none seem to. Is there any other kind of search I can do? An interviewer asked me if anybody else is doing this, and I told them "no" based on what I'd found to that point, but I want to have a clearer picture.
Yes, DSA does quite a few. Here is the guide that NOLA DSA created. In Atlanta, we received donations of materials and also bought some of the lights. We all learned to change the bulbs in a pre-clinic training (had no idea it was so easy) and we did the clinic in a large parking lot where the owner agreed to let us camp out.
posted by quadrilaterals at 2:36 PM on July 6, 2020
posted by quadrilaterals at 2:36 PM on July 6, 2020
Thank you very much. Other than the DSA, any others?
posted by CollectiveMind at 11:18 AM on July 7, 2020
posted by CollectiveMind at 11:18 AM on July 7, 2020
I thought of doing this myself. The most likely light to burn out without the driver knowing is the license plate light. I have changed many license plate lights for people because when I was a deputy district attorney a huge percentage of traffic stops were for license plate lights out. Then bad things happened. I never started a non-profit, but I know several other folks who help out in this way.
A non-profit helping to check and change bulbs in car lights would be so helpful. Especially if you can teach the driver of the vehicle to check his blinkers, brake lights and license plate lights periodically, and how to get inexpensive bulbs and change the bulbs themselves.
I feel pretty sure some of the car parts stores would donate bulbs. They might even donate wipers, wiper fluid and some other items if you wanted to check more than lights.
I suggest you could publicize your nonprofit by contacting the public defender's offices nearby, as they handle many of the cases that result from these stops. Also contacting the rest of the criminal defense bar through their professional organizations would be useful. It horrifies me that a license plate light out can eventually result in x, y and z bad thing happening to a poor person, and then a civil forfeiture or towing and storage bill too big to pay on top of that. (Here I leave out all of my editorial comment on why this happens, to whom it is most likely to happen, etc., as you already know all that.) I hope you are able to set up and carry on this nonprofit.
posted by KayQuestions at 8:14 PM on July 7, 2020
A non-profit helping to check and change bulbs in car lights would be so helpful. Especially if you can teach the driver of the vehicle to check his blinkers, brake lights and license plate lights periodically, and how to get inexpensive bulbs and change the bulbs themselves.
I feel pretty sure some of the car parts stores would donate bulbs. They might even donate wipers, wiper fluid and some other items if you wanted to check more than lights.
I suggest you could publicize your nonprofit by contacting the public defender's offices nearby, as they handle many of the cases that result from these stops. Also contacting the rest of the criminal defense bar through their professional organizations would be useful. It horrifies me that a license plate light out can eventually result in x, y and z bad thing happening to a poor person, and then a civil forfeiture or towing and storage bill too big to pay on top of that. (Here I leave out all of my editorial comment on why this happens, to whom it is most likely to happen, etc., as you already know all that.) I hope you are able to set up and carry on this nonprofit.
posted by KayQuestions at 8:14 PM on July 7, 2020
Sorry I wasn't clear in my prior post. I don't personally know of any nonprofits that do car light clinics, but I do know several people who have done this themselves, without forming a nonprofit, just because of the unfairness of it all. Two of the persons I know who have done this are police officers, I am a former prosecutor, and three others I know are defense attorneys. Two or three more are just car guy neighbors I asked for help when I was first learning to change lights. (Now everything is on YouTube, so it is so much easier.) None of these folks took money for replacing the lights and explaining why it was critical to avoid being stopped by the police. So it was a pro bono service, but not a formal 501c3 nonprofit.
posted by KayQuestions at 8:51 PM on July 7, 2020
posted by KayQuestions at 8:51 PM on July 7, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by airplant at 12:06 PM on July 6, 2020