New York, NY - In response to yesterday’s announcement that NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell is resigning, Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) issued the following statement from CPR spokesperson Loyda Colon (they/them), Executive Director of the Justice Committee:
“NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell and Mayor Adams made repeated early promises to better care for and protect New Yorkers, including ensuring meaningful police accountability. By this measure, and by many, many more, Sewell’s tenure and Adams’ approach to public safety have been abject failures. Under Sewell and Adams’ watch, the NYPD has been more consistently violent and hyper-aggressive and less accountable than at any time since Giuliani was mayor.
“Discriminatory and unconstitutional stops are up; Neighborhood Safety Teams—Mayor Adams’ rebrand of the historically violent Anti Crime Unit—run rogue in communities of color; and the NYPD – including the notoriously violent Strategic Response Group - is abusively suppressing protests. All the while, Sewell –with Adams’ oversight – has emboldened the NYPD to act with impunity. She’s bragged about downgrading more CCRB and NYPD discipline recommendations than her predecessors, watered-down the already weak NYPD disciplinary matrix, impaired the CCRB’s racial profiling investigations so much so that they may be forced to refer those cases back to the NYPD, failed to fire the officers who killed Kawaski Trawick, Delrawn Small, Antonio Williams, Allan Feliz, Ronald Anthony Smith and too many others, threatened to roll back enforcement of the Right To Know Act laws, and thwarted the discipline recommendations of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, enabling abusive officers to remain on the force and get paid on taxpayers’ dime.
“Regardless of who the NYPD commissioner is, the mayor and the city must completely transform their approach to public safety. Abusive officers must be fired immediately. We urgently need the full transparency that will be gained through passage of the How Many Stops Act. The NYPD must be removed from mental health response, schools and other social service roles, and abusive units like the SRG, NSTs, and Vice must be dismantled. The City Council must also take immediate steps this month to reduce the NYPD's bloated $12+ billion dollar spending and allocate that money to housing, mental health, education, youth services and other critical services necessary for real community safety.”
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 reduces reliance on policing. CPR runs coalitions of over 200 local, statewide and national organizations, bringing 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 most unfairly targeted by the NYPD.