Posted on October 8, 2013
On Monday, October 7, New Yorkers gathered on the steps of City Hall to denounce the Bloomberg administration’s continuing attempts to block the stop-and-frisk reform process mandated by the Court in Floyd v. City of New York.
The City is seeking a stay with the Second Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals while its appeal of the Federal court’s orders is pending. Ruling that the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices employ racial profiling and violate the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments after a 10-week trial last spring, Judge Schira Scheindlin appointed an independent monitor and ordered a joint remedial process that includes input, not only from the parties in the lawsuit, but also from various stakeholders -- including affected community members.
After the Court denied the City’s motion to stay the remedial processes last month, Floyd attorneys from the Center for Constitutional Rights (a CPR member organization) submitted a brief opposing the stay. Yesterday, a broad cross-section of NYC stakeholders (including community organizations, law enforcement experts, elected officials, named plaintiffs in the Floyd v. City of New York lawsuit, legal and social service organizations, and labor and faith leaders) filed declarations affirming that a stay of the court’s processes is not in the community’s interest. Elected officials, such as Speaker Christine Quinn and Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio had already filed declarations and briefs last month, opposing the City’s request for a stay.
Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) and our member groups filed 16 of the over 30 declarations to oppose the City's stay request. CPR members who filed declarations included representatives from: Audre Lorde Project, Brotherhood/Sister Sol, CUNY Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility, Desis Rising Up & Moving, Five Borough Defenders, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, Justice Committee, Make the Road New York, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, New York Communities for Change, Picture the Homeless, Streetwise & Safe, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and Voices of Community Advocates & Leaders-NY.
Many of our allies also filed declarations, including: 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, National Association of Latino Officers, SEIU Local 32BJ, the NAACP, National Association of Social Workers, Canaan Baptist Church, New Hope Christian Fellowship, and Judson Memorial Church. Elected officials who had statements filed included: Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and City Council Members Helen Foster and Robert Jackson.
Click here for excerpts from the declarations filed.
For information about Floyd v. City of NY, go to Center for Constitutional Rights' Floyd page here.
To follow news about Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) members organizing against the City's attempts to delay the court orders:
Follow us on twitter @changetheNYPD, the Center for Constitutional Rights @TheCCR, and hashtags #stopthestay and #changetheNYPD. Also receive update by liking us on Facebook, and text ‘JUSTICE’ to 877-877 for mobile text updates.
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