In the Media

No way 50-A! Activists call for repeal of law that hides police misbehavior

State Senator Jessica Ramos joined other elected officials and advocates at City Hall March 21 to call for the repeal of the state’s 50-a law, which shields police records from scrutiny. (Trevor Boyer/New York Daily News)
03/21/2019
New York Daily News

A group of lawmakers and activists on Thursday called for the end of a law that blocks public scrutiny of NYPD misdeeds.

Democratic state legislators and city council members joined activists from Make the Road New York and Moms Rising at City Hall to rally for the repeal of the state’s 50-a law, which prevents the release of disciplinary records of uniformed officers throughout the state.

Charter Revision Commission Hears Expert Testimony on Police Accountability

03/11/2019
Gotham Gazette

The 2019 Charter Revision Commission met on Thursday evening to discuss police accountability reforms before an impassioned crowd filled with activists. Local advocates along with some politicians have long called for increased transparency and accountability in policing, particularly in recent years following the 2014 death of Eric Garner at the hands of NYPD officers on Staten Island and the slow, somewhat secretive process by which any accountability has been handled for that incident and others like it over the years.

EXCLUSIVE: Reform groups say they'll lobby hard in Albany to repeal law that keeps police discipline records secret

A coalition of groups are calling for police reform and a repeal 50-a. (Susan Watts / New York Daily News)
02/11/2019
New York Daily News

A coalition of 88 police reform groups are making a hard push to scrap a decades-old state law that keeps officer discipline records secret.

The groups — many of them working under the banner of Communities United for Police Reform — will send a letter Tuesday to the state legislature calling for a series of police reforms, including the repeal of 50-a — a 1976 statute that limits public access to police and firefighters' disciplinary records.

New York Police Killed Her Son, Then Refused to Answer Her Questions. The Law They’re Hiding Behind Could Soon Be Repealed.

An obscure provision designed to protect personnel records makes it nearly impossible to hold the state’s cops accountable.
02/08/2019
Reason

In 2017, Constance Malcolm sat across from Kevin Richardson, the NYPD lawyer in charge of prosecuting police discipline cases. Richardson said he couldn't tell her the pending charges that were about to be presented in an open and public disciplinary trial against the police officer who killed her son.

Quiero un Nueva York más seguro

Necesitamos transparencial policial
01/21/2019
El Diario NY

Han pasado más de 50 años desde que el líder del movimiento de derechos civiles Martin Luther King, pronunció su famoso discurso “Tengo un sueño”, en el que pidió derechos civiles y el fin del racismo. No había nacido cuando eso sucedió, pero mis experiencias personales me han hecho apreciar su lucha.

Por eso formo parte de un movimiento que continúa la lucha para acabar con el racismo y promover los derechos humanos de los neoyorquinos, incluido el derecho a estar libre de violencia policial.

MTA fare-beating policy is 'Orwellian broken-windows' approach, groups say

Advocates say the MTA's policy unfairly punishes people of color for a problem that is actually rooted in decades of mismanagement by the authority and state officials.
01/18/2019
AM New York

More than a dozen transit and criminal justice advocacy groups are urging New York City Transit President Andy Byford to rethink the MTA’s stepped-up fare-evasion policy.

NYPD organized 'large scale' Black Lives Matter surveillance and kept activist photos years later

The NYPD organized a citywide surveillance effort of Black Lives Matter protesters, according to nearly 700 emails obtained by an attorney.
A scene from a Nov. 2017 rally in Union Square, New York City. GETTY IMAGES
01/17/2019
Metro New York

Nearly 700 NYPD emails show a large-scale effort to monitor Black Lives Matter protesters by undercover cops trained to take down organized crime, according to documents obtained by attorney M.J. Williams.

The emails also reveal that the department has held on their findings, including photographs of individual activists, nearly four years later, raising First Amendment concerns. 

EXCLUSIVE: Relatives of those who died at hands of police push for repeal of NYS law shielding release of cop disciplinary records

12/24/2018
New York Daily News

ALBANY — Citing the recent case in which officers ripped a baby from a woman’s arms while arresting her, the relatives of 16 people killed by police are seeking passage of a bill requiring the NYPD to publicly release officer disciplinary records.

Headley Case Again Raises Questions About NYPD Accountability Under De Blasio

12/18/2018
Gotham Gazette

When video was captured in 2014 of Staten Island resident Eric Garner dying with an NYPD officer’s arm wrapped around his neck, just months after the election of a progressive mayor promising a new day at the police department, it seemed like a watershed moment. The evidence was there for millions to see for themselves, across the city and country, and beyond. It seemed impossible that the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, would escape any accountability. But more than four years later there has been little beyond Pantaleo’s move to desk duty.

Pages