Advocates urge NYPD Inspector General to investigate treatment of city homeless

February 1, 2016
Erin Durkin
New York Daily News

The NYPD Inspector General should investigate the policing of homeless New Yorkers, advocacy groups say.

Communities United for Police Reform, Picture the Homeless, and more than 50 other groups wrote to IG Philip Eure requesting the formal probe, saying there are rampant examples of cops unfairly targeting the homeless.

“Over the past two years and especially the past several months, a number of documented incidents and reports, together with pronouncements by top government officials, raise serious concerns about whether homeless people in the city are being targeted with abusive and discriminatory treatment by the NYPD — simply due to their housing status,” they wrote.

The letter charges that especially in East Harlem, cops have often forced homeless people out of public spaces, kicked them awake, and confiscated their belongings.

They say in the city’s effort to dismantle homeless encampments, they’ve sometimes targeted sites where no one was breaking the law while destroying property. And they complain about warrant raids that have been launched at homeless shelters.

“We seek your expeditious investigation and review to ensure the rights and dignity of homeless people in our city are protected and respected,” the groups, which also include the Legal Aid Society, New York Civil Liberties Union AND Center for Constitutional Rights, wrote.

The IG did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Topics: NYPD Inspector General