Welcome Back to the Kitchen Table
Hello! In spite of all the horrible things happening in the world right now, I’d like to wish you a belated Happy New Year!
I’m truly glad you’re here.
If you’re new, welcome to The Kitchen Table Activist—a place for people who care deeply about what’s happening in this country, but don’t want to be overwhelmed, performative, or burned out by politics.
Each month, we focus on one issue:
The first week is an explainer, thoroughly discussing what’s happening, why it matters, and where real leverage exists.
The following weeks offer 15-minute actions you can take from your kitchen table; things like calls, emails, research, or pressure points that actually matter.
No lonely rage, feeling like you’re shouting into the void.
No hero fantasies or full-time political action required.
Just small moves, steady reps, and clear values.
Because I’ve started this month late but want to kick off 2026 right, we’re going to focus on one topic for the remainder of January and all of February. As such, I will also sprinkle in a few other “explainer” posts along with our 15-minute actions.
Anyway, our Focus Issue for the next 6 weeks is uncomfortable but essential…
Police Accountability & Federal Overreach
When people talk about “police accountability,” the conversation usually stalls out at body cameras, training reforms, or individual misconduct.
But what’s happening right now goes much deeper than bad actors or local mismanagement.
We’re witnessing a structural collapse of accountability, where federal safeguards are being dismantled, local police are increasingly entangled with federal operations, and no one is clearly responsible for protecting civil rights when abuses occur.
I see a great deal of outrage online (and rightfully so), with people wondering why local police don’t step up and protect citizens whose rights are very clearly being violated. Perhaps some of it is due to the “blue wall of silence,” with local police feeling that ICE officers are an extension of their “brotherhood.” Of course, that also raises questions about why local police would feel connected to Federal officers.
There are several factors, so let’s break this all down.
The Crisis of Accountability: Federal Erosion and Local Complicity
Federal Oversight Has Been Hollowed Out
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, which is the part of the federal government tasked with investigating police misconduct, discrimination, and voting rights violations, has lost roughly 70% of its staff, including more than 250 attorneys.
In practical terms, this means:
Fewer investigations
Slower responses
And, in many cases, no federal oversight at all
When federal accountability disappears, abuses don’t stop, they simply move downstream.
The Problem of “Split Loyalties”
Local police departments are no longer just local.
Through…
Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs)
Federal task forces and deputization
Military equipment transfers
Shared intelligence systems
…local officers are folded into federal pipelines.
For example, DHS and ICE encourage local law enforcement to enter into 287(g) agreements. These agreements are partnerships between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local or state law enforcement agencies, allowing designated local officers to perform specific federal immigration enforcement functions. Essentially, they deputize local officers to act as immigration officers under federal oversight. These agreements, authorized by Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, aim to identify and process non-citizens, particularly those with criminal records, but have drawn criticism for leading to racial profiling and straining community trust.
All of these situations create split loyalties, where officers answer simultaneously to local communities and to federal agencies with very different priorities, rules, and accountability standards.
When those priorities conflict, local accountability is lost.
When Standing By Becomes Complicity
There are documented cases of local officers standing by while federal agents:
Use excessive force against peaceful protesters
Shoot journalists with crowd-control weapons
Conduct operations that violate state law
When local officers refuse to intervene or refuse to arrest federal agents committing state-law crimes, they don’t remain neutral.
They become legally and morally complicit in constitutional violations.
Documented Harms in Real Communities
In case you’ve been living under a rock recently, you know this isn’t theoretical.
Violence Against Civilians and the Press
Federal agents have been documented:
Firing pepper balls at journalists
Shooting crowd-control munitions at clergy praying peacefully
Using force well beyond what local law allows
As I was working on this post, an ICE agent shot and killed a woman at point-blank range in Minneapolis. By the time you read it, there will have been even more acts of violence perpetrated by Federal agents against civilians and the press.
(NOTE: It’s hard to keep up, so I may revisit details and accountability outcomes in the coming weeks.)
Warrantless Detentions and Militarized Raids
Operations such as “Midway Blitz” have used…
Black Hawk helicopters
Surveillance drones
Military-grade gear
…to conduct thousands of arrests, sometimes targeting U.S. citizens, without warrants or probable cause.
This isn’t immigration enforcement as most people understand it. Nor is it something we would ever expect to be playing out in the streets of a country that claims to be democratic and free.
This is paramilitary policing, operating in local neighborhoods. It’s something we might expect to see in a third-world authoritarian country, not in the United States of America.
Abandoning Real Public Safety
To fuel mass deportation efforts, the FBI reassigned roughly 20% of its special agents, leading to the abandonment of:
Over 700 domestic terrorism cases
Investigations into violent child exploitation
That’s not “law and order.”
That’s a dangerous reallocation of resources away from real threats.
Structural Solutions: Separation, Not Reform Theater
If accountability is going to mean anything, it has to be structural, not cosmetic. We know it can be done because it has been done, not just in other countries but right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise).
Below are three things to consider.
Compartmentalization, Not Coexistence
Cooperating shouldn’t mean becoming inextricably entangled. Too often, local law enforcement has become so intertwined with Federal authorities that it stymies the types of structural reforms necessary to protect our rights and freedoms. The fact is that you cannot fix a system that shares…
Personnel
Facilities
Databases
Command structures
…with the very institutions creating the harm.
True accountability requires new public safety systems that are fully separate from corrupted ones. Luckily, this is a solution that’s been proven to work…
The Camden Model
Camden, New Jersey, did something radical and effective. The Camden Police Department had a deeply embedded “warrior culture” that was detrimental to public safety and welfare. This culture centered on a strong “us versus them” mentality, which focused on enforcement over engagement. This led to rampant corruption and misconduct, with extremely high rates of excessive force being used. All of this eroded public trust, which made the police even less effective in stopping crime and became a huge financial burden on the city.
Instead of a band-aid approach that tackled symptoms of the problem, the city:
Dissolved its police department
Rebuilt a new one within 90 days
Brought in leadership from outside the old system
This prevented the old “warrior culture” from re-establishing itself. The dissolution and rebuilding of the department was the key because it allowed the creation of the Camden County Police Department on a new set of principles. These principles shifted the identity of officers from “warriors” to “guardians” and emphasized community policing and de-escalation as core tenets.
The result?
A 42% reduction in crime
Improved community trust
Fewer use-of-force incidents
The lesson for us? Structural change works when it’s real.
Cutting Federal Entanglements Permanently
A local government charter amendment is a formal change to the city’s foundational document (its charter), which acts like a local constitution, altering its structure, powers, or procedures, and typically requires voter approval to become law. These changes are often proposed by the city council or citizens via petition and can cover things like election rules, term limits, or spending thresholds. Given the issues we’re discussing, local governments can (and should) use charter amendments to prohibit:
Participation in JTTFs
287(g) immigration enforcement agreements
Military equipment transfers
Charter amendments matter because they’re hard to undo. Future councils can’t quietly reverse them with a single vote. Yes, they take some work to get into place but, given the current justified outrage with what’s happening in the streets of some of America’s largest cities, the time is ripe. We need to reap the harvest of the division that the Trump regime has sown by pushing for these charter amendments now!
Redefining Public Safety Altogether
Let me perfectly clear: accountability isn’t just about stopping harm, it’s about building better systems. We need to be done with the short-term, halfway measures. Below are a few ideas to consider.
Better Training
I try to avoid using too many examples from outside of the U.S. because most mouth-breathing conservatives just yell ‘Murica and stop listening. On the other hand, they don’t listen anyway, so let’s look at the Nordic policing model, which treats officers as professionals, not warriors. Their training includes:
~40% social sciences
~25% constitutional law
~20% de-escalation
This isn’t softness. It’s competence. Those who are tasked with protecting us and enforcing our laws should understand them thoroughly and should be trained on how to minimize the need for using force.
Alternative Response Systems
Alternative response systems are models that send unarmed, trained professionals (clinicians, medics, social workers, peer specialists) to 911 calls for non-violent crises like mental health, substance use, homelessness, and welfare checks. The goal is to divert such calls from police and connect people with appropriate community-based resources for better long-term support.
These programs aim to de-escalate situations, provide immediate care (like first aid or Narcan), and offer follow-up services, improving public safety by sending the right expert for the right problem. I’m talking about programs like:
Denver Support Team Assisted Response (STAR)
Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS)
These systems divert 85–99% of non-violent calls to trained civilian responders. When you treat police as professionals, then you understand that they aren’t the right professional for every problem.
The results are substantial and well-documented:
Lower costs
Fewer arrests
Safer outcomes
Police aren’t removed from emergencies, they’re simply reserved for situations that actually require them.
Real Civilian Oversight
Civilian oversight of law enforcement is necessary to build public trust, ensure accountability for misconduct (like excessive force), protect civil rights, increase transparency, and improve police policies. This is accomplished by injecting community standards and independent review into what are often closed internal systems, ultimately making policing more effective and responsive to the people it serves. This type of oversight offers an external check on police power, moving beyond internal investigations to address patterns, prevent future issues, and reduce costly legal issues for cities.
BUT… civilian oversight bodies only work when they have:
Independent investigative staff
Subpoena power
A protected budget
Anything less is advisory theater. Without these tools, oversight bodies risk being ineffective, stonewalled, and unable to hold departments accountable, eroding community faith in the process. Do it right or don’t do it at all.
What Can Be Done—From the Kitchen Table
This month’s actions will focus on local leverage, not federal wish-casting.
I’m planning on exploring how we can:
Pressure cities to impose police hiring freezes
Demand mayoral non-cooperation with unlawful federal actions
Push state Attorneys General to prosecute federal agents who violate state law
Understand and use sheriff authority to refuse unconstitutional enforcement
I’ll also share the basics of:
Researching accomplice-liability laws in your state
Analyzing how federal money shapes local policing decisions
Understanding how charter amendments get on the ballot in your city
All of this is doable… without leaving the comfort of your own home.
A Quick Way to Think About Federal Entanglement
Metaphors often help me quickly grasp new concepts, so let me offer one to help you think about this idea of “Federal entanglement.”
Imagine your HOA has hired a local community security team and it starts accepting gear and training from a massive, distant private security firm. Although this seems beneficial at first, there end up being some serious strings attached.
Over time:
The firm sends its own guards into your neighborhood
Those guards violate your community’s rules
Your local team just stands by… because they now depend on the outside firm
At that point, reform isn’t enough. You have to cut the cord and rebuild a team that answers only to the HOA and focuses on the priorities of the community, not some far-off entity.
That’s where we are now.
What Comes Next
Later this week, I’ll send your first 15-minute Kitchen Table Action for January—focused on a specific, local pressure point you can act on immediately.
If this explainer helped clarify what’s actually happening and where power really lives, then please share The Kitchen Table Activist with someone who’s struggling to make sense of it all.
And if you’re wondering how this fits into the larger CODA Project: this is what values-aligned living looks like in practice. What we’re talking about here is protecting dignity, insisting on accountability, and building systems worthy of the people they serve. We’re putting our values into action!
See you soon.
~Brandon