In the Media

Hundreds Call on City Council to Pass Long Delayed Police Reform Bills

04/21/2016
DNAinfo
Hundreds gathered outside of City Hall Thursday, rallying in support of long-delayed police reform bills that would require officers to get consent before searching someone without a warrant. The Right to Know Act — City Council legislation composed of two bills — would require the NYPD to identify themselves and explain why they are stopping or questioning an individual. Police would also have to explain that people can deny consent to a search in certain instances — and get written or audio proof of consent to a non-warrant search.

Protestors rally outside City Hall demanding passage of new police reform bills

04/21/2016
New York Daily News

More than 200 people — including a fleet of politicians — rallied outside City Hall Thursday to demand that lawmakers pass new police reform bills.

The demonstrators called on the City Council to take action on a pair of measures known as the “Right to Know Act.”

The bills would require cops to formally identify themselves during stops — as well as get proof of consent when searching individuals without probable cause.

Bill would force NY police to report data on arrests, deaths

04/06/2016
Associated Press

 Police departments would have to report more about arrests and the deaths of people in custody under legislation pending in the New York state Legislature.

Advocates for criminal justice reform and their legislative allies detailed the bill Tuesday.

The measure sponsored by Assemblyman Joseph Lentol and Sen. Daniel Squadron, both Democrats, would require police departments to follow a single, statewide process for reporting information about everyday arrests — as well as cases in which a person is killed while in custody.

Why Manhattan isn't going to arrest people for littering, public drinking

The NYPD’s overhaul of how to treat minor offenses such as public drinking and taking two seats on the subway represents a tap on the brakes for the nation’s largest and most influential police force.
03/04/2016
Christian Science Monitor

NEW YORK — When New York City officials announced this week that Manhattan police would stop arresting most of the scofflaws who littered, drank in public, or took up two seats on the subway, and give them summonses instead, they were in many ways addressing a lot more than such penny-ante violations of the law.

Need for police accountability, transparency and right to know - OpEd by CPR Leader Monifa Bandele

02/18/2016
New York Amsterdam News

Last week’s conviction of NYPD officer Peter Liang, the first conviction of a NYPD officer for killing a civilian in more than a decade, is an important step forward for justice for Akai Gurley’s family and police accountability. However, it hardly represents equal justice for our communities with respect to policing, or an end to the preferential double standard that most officers have experienced when they brutalize or kill.

Bill would compile data on policing practices

02/16/2016
Legislative Gazette

Assemblyman Joseph Lentol and Senator Daniel Squadron are calling for New York to overhaul the system for collecting and reporting data on policing activity throughout the state.

Their Police-STAT Act (A.7698/S.6001) would allow the state to capture and publicly report statistics about policing across the state.

More than 50 people attended a press conference in the Capitol recently to call for more transparency among law enforcement data reporting.

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