An Abolish the Police March ended with protesters gathering outside of the police department this past Sunday against police brutality. At 4 p.m., the protest started and marchers gathered at a park in a city and state before the march to the police department. The march is in response to recent police killings in the U.S.

Abolish the Police March

The march took place in Eugene, Oregon and the marchers meet up at Alton Baker Park. In fact, the speakers focused on mutual aid, community service officers and pondered the question of what a police-free community could look like.

Preventing Crimes From Happening

“Therefore, instead of having police officers who just sit in their cars until there’s a crime to respond to, we as a community are working on, how do we prevent crimes from happening,” said Ty Ford, who is an organizer of the march. “We think about achieving this by taking away the police and excessive force and weapons. The goal is to keep applying pressure on city officials and to continue on spreading the word.”

Jay St. James Alleged Raped

Also, the focus of the protest is the alleged rape of a woman Jay St. James by an EPD officer widely reported this week. St. James is known as a political organizer and licensed nurse who was open about her status as a sex worker. In 2019, she has been known to hold training events on filing public records requests and she also helped craft a community-funded policy platform that advocates for voting and housing justice, among a wide range of other issues. But, unfortunately, St. James said that on May 24, 2020, five years after she moved to Eugene, she was stalked and raped by Christopher Drumm. He is a police officer in the city’s police department’s patrol unit. The alleged incident happened last year. Eugene Police said in a statement this week that the officer in question has resigned. Now, his police certification is also inactive. Moreover, according to the Lane County District Attorney, the investigation remains open.