In the Media

Procedural Move Could Lead to Vote on Right to Know Act

08/12/2016
Gotham Gazette

Last week, City Council Members Ritchie Torres and Antonio Reynoso sent out a joint statement in which they addressed the ramifications of the impending retirement of NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton. “With the departure of William Bratton,” the statement reads, “we are reminded that administrative agreements are every bit as short-lived as commissioners themselves, coming and going in the moments we least expect.”

New NYPD Commissioner's Focus on Community Policing is a Distraction, Not a Solution

08/11/2016
The Intercept_

WHEN NEW YORK MAYOR Bill de Blasio introduced incoming Police Commissioner James O’Neill last week, he praised him as the “architect” of neighborhood policing — the city’s version of the “community policing” approach being implemented across the country as a solution to the increasingly contentious relationship between law enforcement and people of color.

State of siege: What Bratton’s legacy looks like to a kid from Flatbush

08/09/2016
New York Daily News

Growing up in Flatbush in the 2000s, I fell in love with the vibrancy of my community. I loved the way we gelled together — different cultures, with different layers of broken English sprouting from mouth to mouth, speaker to speaker.

One of the most vivid images I still hold on to, however, is the way police patrolled parties and community gatherings. They looked more like corrections officers walking down aisles of prison blocks than the agents of community safety they professed to be.

NYPD body camera program delayed by several months, court document shows

08/09/2016
amNewYork

The NYPD is taking longer than expected to get its body camera pilot program going, according to a court document filed Tuesday, because the department has yet to pick a contractor for the equipment, which could mean another six months before officers are outfitted.

The pilot program will feature 1,000 cameras in 20 precincts, and will be compared to 20 control precincts. The yearlong pilot program was ordered in August 2013.

As Mayor Touts 'Neighborhood Policing,' Questions Remain About What It Is

08/08/2016
DNAinfo

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — The NYPD's incoming commissioner James O'Neill is the perfect person for the job because he helped develop the city's expanding neighborhood policing program, where officers spend more time getting to know the communities they patrol, Mayor Bill de Blasio said when announcing O'Neill's promotion last week.

Change of Commissioner Spotlights De Blasio’s Record on Police Reform

08/05/2016
Gotham Gazette

Many believe that the biggest responsibility of the Mayor of New York City is to keep people safe and Bill de Blasio has largely done that, in no small part by letting his lightning-rod police commissioner, Bill Bratton, call the shots on public safety policy. The mayor has focused on pre-kindergarten and affordable housing while Bratton has governed the streets, helping bring crime down to historic lows.

Bratton's Imminent Departure Reignites Debate Around Set of Police Reform Bills with Support in City Council

08/05/2016
NY1

Police Commissioner William Bratton's imminent departure from the NYPD is reigniting a debate around a set of police reform bills with widespread support in the City Council. NY1's Grace Rauh filed the ofllowing report.

Police officers will be expected to offer a business card after searching someone and in some instances, be required to ask for permission before conducting a search at all. Both are reforms the NYPD agreed to adopt in a deal reached with the City Council last month.

NY1 Online: Panel of Activists Discusses Changing Leadership at NYPD, Hopes for Reform

08/05/2016
NY1 / Inside City Hall
Days after Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced his retirement from the NYPD, Errol Louis discussed the changing leadership at the department, plus hopes for reform, with a panel of activists: Beverly Tillery from the Anti-Violence Project, Robert Gangi of the Police Reform Organizing Project, Yul-san Liem of the Justice Committee and Jose Lopez from Make the Road New York.

Change of Commissioner Spotlights De Blasio’s Record on Police Reform

08/05/2016
Gotham Gazette

Many believe that the biggest responsibility of the Mayor of New York City is to keep people safe and Bill de Blasio has largely done that, in no small part by letting his lightning-rod police commissioner, Bill Bratton, call the shots on public safety policy. The mayor has focused on pre-kindergarten and affordable housing while Bratton has governed the streets, helping bring crime down to historic lows.

Pages