Before Community Safety Act Vote, Impacted New Yorkers Call for Council Passage & Condemn Bloomberg on Civil Rights, Scare Tactics

New Yorkers impacted by discriminatory policing and who would be afforded civil rights protections under the Community Safety Act were joined by Council Members Jumaane Williams and Brad Lander today to express support for the legislation’s passage preceding the vote. They condemned the unfortunate rhetoric used by the Bloomberg administration to incite fear and distort the truth about the bills’ impact, and questioned the mayor’s resistance to historic civil rights protections for New Yorkers.

“New Yorkers are tired of having their civil rights violated and being told patronizingly that it’s for their own good,” said Priscilla Gonzalez of Communities United for Police Reform. “It’s our communities that experience the devastation from gun violence and want safety, but the abusive use of stop-and-frisk has done nothing to curb it. Today is an important day for civil rights, police accountability, and true public safety for all. All the lies and fearmongering in the world cannot change the truth and will not change whether our elected officials are on the right side of history. We strongly support those who stand for our rights and safety over political expediency.”

Applauding the Council’s strong vote on Monday to support democracy in allowing the bills to come before the entire body for a vote, they called on the Council to fulfill its duty in standing for equality and the rights of all New Yorkers. Nearly two months away from the 50^thanniversary of the March on Washington – largely credited for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – New Yorkers conveyed the need to pass the Community Safety Act to help end the discriminatory police profiling that has intensified in New York City during the Bloomberg administration.

“Today is the culmination of over a year of debate and negotiations to produce legislation that advances accountability, promotes public safety and cultivates the Constitutional liberties of all New Yorkers,” said Council Member Jumaane D. Williams. “More than that, today is a result of decades of civil rights advocacy from historically disenfranchised communities that seek equality in justice, equality in security and equality in law enforcement. Today, the New York City Council has the opportunity to vote for better policing and safer streets in every neighborhood of our city, from East Flatbush to the Upper East Side. Today, I look forward to casting my vote in favor of the Community Safety Act.”

“Today, we take two big steps forward toward a New York City that keeps our families safe, respects all of our rights, rejects bias-based profiling, and embraces good-government,” said Council Member Brad Lander. “New Yorkers know that we can keep our city safe from crime and terrorism without profiling our neighbors based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, or immigrant status.  I'm honored to be a prime co-sponsor of these bills, and to be a member of the City Council that is passing them.”

Under the Bloomberg administration, the use of stop-and-frisk has increased by more than 600% and over 5 million stop have been made. Nearly nine in ten of those stopped are neither arrested nor issued a summons, and nearly 90% of those stopped are Black or Latina/o. The Bloomberg administration’s stop-and-frisk policy has faced criticism for its profiling of primarily Black and Latina/o New Yorkers, particularly young males.

“New York City’s police reform movement is on the verge of making history,” said New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “With the discharge of the Community Safety Act, we are about to see the passage of key civil rights bills that will change real New Yorkers lives, and promote meaningful accountability and transparency over the NYPD.”

“We call on the City Council to do the right thing and pass the Community Safety Act now,” said Kyle Bragg, secretary treasurer of 32BJ SEIU. “The NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices fail to make us safer, but do succeed in the daily humiliation of law-abiding New Yorkers, many of them young people of color. The Community Safety Act is a commonsense, constructive solution to end a destructive, discriminatory practice. Our children cannot and should not wait any longer to feel free and safe to walk the streets of their own communities.”

Meanwhile, the policy has failed to make any notable impact on gun violence in New York City. Despite the 600% increase in the use of stop-and-frisk between 2002 and 2011, the number of gun violence victims in New York City has remained at nearly the same level of approximately 1,800.

“Racial profiling makes communities unsafe. Today marks an important step in deconstructing one aspect of discriminatory policing practices. We applaud the sponsors and supporters of the Community Safety Act,” said Malcolm X Grassroots Movement member Monifa Bandele. “The ongoing wholesale detainment of black and brown people in the streets of New York must end.”

“As a Bronx native I know my community is sick and tired of being racially profiled and treated as subhuman. Sadly, we become accustomed to this abuse because there is no one to hold the NYPD accountable for its discriminatory practices,” stated Riko Guzman, Justice Committee Organizer. “The profiling ban and oversight bills are a step in the right direction towards fairness and safety in our communities.  They should be passed immediately.”

Additionally, increasing scrutiny has focused on how the policy and discriminatory policing more broadly impact the LGBTQ community, immigrants, and residents of public housing as well.

“It’s time for New York City to make history by passing an enforceable ban on police profiling based on sexual orientation and gender identity, along with race, age, gender, housing and immigration status,” said Chris Bilal, campaign staff at Streetwise and Safe. “LGBTQ youth of color deserve protection on as many fronts as we are policed. There is no better way for Councilmembers to show their support for the LGBTQ community during Pride month than to pass this bill.”

“Many LGBTQ community members, including transgender people, people of color, and youth, report to AVP that they are regularly profiled, stopped and frisked and arrested because they have condoms on them,” said Shelby Chestnut, Co-Director of the Community Organizing and Public Advocacy at the New York City Anti-Violence Project. “The New York City Council should enact policies that prohibit police profiling, including the Community Safety Act, that ensure that this profiling stops and that police officers are held accountable for homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic behaviors.”

The Community Safety Act bill to ban discriminatory profiling (Intro. 1080) builds upon the existing racial profiling law by strengthening it with clear enforcement mechanisms – the current law contains no enforcement provision – and expanding its protections to LGBTQ and immigrant New Yorkers, along with other protected classes, for the first time.

“I have been stopped and frisked ten times over the last four years,” said Damont Dillard, 19 years old, of Make the Road New York's Youth Power Project. “Never was I given reason for the stop and never did I receive an apology. These bills will protect other young men like me from this unfair practice.”

The groups also expressed deep support for the Community Safety Act legislative proposal to establish an inspector general to provide independent oversight of the NYPD’s policies and practices. The legislation to establish independent oversight of the NYPD – Intro. 1079 – would provide essential review of policing policies and practices, bringing the NYPD into conformity with every other city agency, police departments in other U.S. cities, and federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI and CIA.

“New Yorkers are ready to live in a City where the color of their skin or their faith is not criminalized and the NYPD is held accountable for ineffective policing practices”, said Faiza Ali from the Arab American Association of NY. “We are looking to our leaders at the City Council to pass the Community Safety Act. These common sense reforms will ensure a more just and safe City for all communities.”

“Unchecked policies from unwarranted surveillance of Muslims, to unlawful stop and frisks of Blacks, Latinos, and people of color, underscore the need for greater oversight and real tangible changes in the New York Police Department,” said Monami Maulik, Executive Director of DRUM - Desis Rising Up & Moving. “Now is the time for City Council members to demonstrate their positions on these bills, and demonstrate their accountability and responsiveness to communities all over New York City. These bills are first steps to rebuilding community trust, and ensure effective policing.”

In addition to stop-and-frisk abuses and the legally dubious surveillance of Muslim communities, there are also issues surrounding the manipulation of criminal statistics and the failure of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and Quality Assurance Division to appropriately address them. In one instance, the downgrading of sexual attack victims’ criminal complaints allowed a Washington Heights rapist to commit 6 sexual assaults before being caught during the seventh. The downgrading prevented the cases from reaching detectives, hindering the start of an effort to capture the perpetrator. No police official involved was ever held responsible, including the precinct’s commander who was twice promoted. The three-member panel that Commissioner Kelly appointed in January 2011 to examine whether criminal statistics manipulation was systemic and return a report in 6 months has yet to release anything.

“We urge the City Council to vote for fair and accountable policing,” said Michael Price, Counsel for the Liberty & National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “New Yorkers deserve a police department that will keep us safe and respect constitutional rights.”

“The Legal Aid Society and our front-line staff know that this legislation is urgently needed to prevent continued harm resulting from improper and unlawful policing,” said Steven Banks, the Attorney-in-Chief of The Legal Aid Society. “The legislation is especially important because it provides independent oversight of the NYPD just like other City agencies have, and it expands existing prohibitions on police profiling to protect New Yorkers from profiling based on, for example, gender identity and expression as well as homelessness and housing status.”

The bills – sponsored by a majority of council members – have gone through an extensive process of deliberation and revision through public hearings held in City Hall and outer-boroughs, conversations with elected officials and law enforcement, and other input.

“It is possible to protect the rights of all New Yorkers without sacrificing the rights of any of us,” said Brittny Saunders, Senior Staff Attorney for the Center for Popular Democracy. “The Anti-profiling and the NYPD Oversight bills will help make this happen. It’s time for the Council to stand up for civil rights and demand safety and respect for everyone in this City.”

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About Communities United for Police Reform

Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is an unprecedented campaign to end discriminatory policing practices in New York, and to build a lasting movement that promotes public safety and policing practices based on cooperation and respect– not discriminatory targeting and harassment.

CPR brings together a movement of community members, lawyers, researchers and activists to work for change. The partners in this campaign come from all 5 boroughs, from all walks of life and represent many of those unfairly targeted the most by the NYPD. CPR is fighting for reforms that will promote community safety while ensuring that the NYPD protects and serves all New Yorkers.

Learn more: http://changethenypd.org/
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