About

The Peaceful Streets Project is an all-volunteer, grassroots effort uniting people to end the institutional violence taking place on our streets. Through community organizing and direct action tactics, the Peaceful Streets Project seeks to support communities in understanding, exercising, and standing up for our rights.

Vision: A society free of state-sponsored institutionalized violence.

Mission: Through community organizing, engaging in non-political and non-violent direct action tactics, and utilizing new technologies, the Peaceful Streets Project seeks to bring about a cultural shift where individuals understand their rights and hold law enforcement officials accountable, and communities protect and serve each other.

To fulfill our mission, the Peaceful Streets Project is undertaking the following actions:

  1. Ongoing, free training sessions on knowing your rights in police encounters and on recording police activity safely and responsibly. Please contact us if you are interested in hosting a training for your community.
  2. Ongoing “Police Complaint Department” events in public spaces to enable people to go on record with their stories of police abuse. Click here for samples of testimonies collected so far.
  3. Ongoing “cop watch” actions (peacefully video-witnessing police activity to assist those who may be victims of police misconduct). Peaceful Streets volunteers bearing witness in cop watch actions should adhere to the PSP Cop Watch Code of Conduct.
  4. Annual Police Accountability Summit, featuring a free, full day of workshops, speakers, and live testimonies of experiences of police abuse. On July 14th 2012, over 200 Austinites from all walks of life attended the event, and Peaceful Streets raised funds to place 100 free cameras in the hands of community members willing to monitor police in their neighborhoods. See photos and learn more about the event here.
  5. Continuously building alliances with other community initiatives in Austin to support one another’s work.
  6. Supporting similar efforts across the country.

The Peaceful Streets Project developed in the spring of 2012, following the New Year’s Eve arrest of activist Antonio Buehler for videotaping police using excessive force against a woman in Austin, TX. For more about Antonio’s case and the rise of the Peaceful Streets Project, check out this video, courtesy of our friends at copblock.org:

We are currently looking for volunteers as well as donors and sponsors to help us build and expand!

Get involved!

  • E-mail peacefulstreets@gmail.com or call us at (512) 981-7675 to volunteer or request a training for your community!
  • Like us on Facebook!
  • Donate through Rally.org to support our work!
    You can also donate via snail mail:
    Peaceful Streets Project
    2002-A Guadalupe St.
    P.O. Box 244
    Austin, TX 78705

Many thanks for taking the time to learn about our work.