According to New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, officers will be retrained on how to talk to the public.
During a recent news conference with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at a Harlem police precinct, Bratton referred to the retraining process as “verbal judo.”
COLUMBIA COUNTY — The changes in the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy announced last week took place in part because of three whistle-blowing officers: Pedro Serrano, Adrian Schoolcraft and Adhyl Polanco. All of them faced threats and intimidation. Polanco was suspended for several years with pay when he spoke out in the press against the stop-and-frisk practices, because of the racial profiling he said they allowed.
Five police unions are trying to block Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed settlement to resolve the federal court case over stop-and-frisk.
The unions filed a motion to stop the settlement, which would impose a federal monitor on the department for three years.
NEW YORK – Lalit Clarkson pushed his daughter’s stroller down a street in the Bronx last Sunday. He was walking through the same neighborhood while on lunch break in 2006, when he was stopped by New York City police officers.
“My story, in some ways, is no different than other young man’s story that grows up in this city,” Clarkson said. “Walking down the street, you should not be harassed for doing nothing. And this is the daily life for black and brown people across the country.”
The civil rights community applauded a move by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to settle the legal battle over controversial stop-and-frisk policies and reform the practice that some said unfairly targeted minorities.
Under the agreement with plaintiffs, a court-appointed monitor will oversee the police department's reform of stop-and-frisk for three years. The city also will work with "community stakeholders" to make sure people who have been impacted by stop-and-frisk help shape reform.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, sticking to a campaign promise to chip away at New York City’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy, announced on Thursday that the city has filed paperwork to drop the city’s appeal to a federal judge’s ruling that the city had violated the constitutional rights of innocent minorities.
The announcement could be the first steps in reforming the much maligned tactic.
Activists and city officials, including new Public Advocate Letitia James, announced last Friday that advocates will take legal action against police union efforts to overturn a new law meant to stop police frisks of people due to their appearance.
The move is the latest in a series of legal maneuvers taken by both sides in the controversy over police stops and frisks.
Critics of the Bloomberg administration's police policies say they're concerned about the direction of the department under Bill de Blasio after learning that NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton planned to hire an author of the Broken Windows theory.
The theory emphasizes strict enforcement of quality-of-life crimes as a way to deter more serious and violent crime.
NEW YORK — Community activists said on Friday that the battle to stop the NYPD from engaging in biased-based profiling isn’t over.
Back in August, after a long political battle, the City Council passed Local Law 71. The law is designed to curb the NYPD’s profiling based on factors like race, religion, sexual orientation, or housing status.
In October, the police union responded with a lawsuit to block the law.
At a Communities United for Police Reform press event at City Hall on Friday, activists called on the Police Union to drop the lawsuit.
Activists took to the steps of City Hall Friday to rally in support of non-discrimination laws, which the police union is trying to get rid of.
Last year, the City Council passed the Community Safety Act over the veto of then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The law makes it easier for people to sue the New York City Police Department if they felt they had been profiled.
The Patrolman's Benevolent Association filed a lawsuit against the legislation.
They say it unfairly punishes officers who are trying to do their job.