In response to the NYPD opening fire in a Brooklyn subway station after alleged $2.90 fair evasion and Mayor Adams defending the officers for showing “restraint,” Communities United for Police Reform released the following statement from CPR spokesperson Loyda Colon (they/them), Executive Director of the Justice Committee:
“The mass shooting of 3 civilians and a police officer by the NYPD over a $2.90 fare is the latest example of a police force empowered by Mayor Adams to use reckless excessive force without consequence and clear evidence that carceral enforcement fails to make our city safer. This horrific event that endangered dozens of transit users didn’t happen in a vacuum– it happened because the mayor has invested in flooding officers into our subway system and communities to criminalize mental illness and poverty, rather than in making transit, housing, and services affordable and available to New Yorkers. It happened because Mayor Adams has refused to hold the NYPD accountable—failing to fire abusive officers like the ones that killed Kawaski Trawick, has enabled NYPD’s corrupt burying of hundreds of substantiated misconduct cases annually and has repeatedly attempted through lies and fear-mongering to erode NYPD oversight– even as misconduct complaints and unconstitutional police stops have soared under his watch. Eric Adams has shown where his priorities stand: defending the NYPD at the expense of New Yorkers’ lives.
“In the current context of multiple federal corruption investigations, abrupt resignations of high ranking officials – including former NYPD Commissioner Caban – one would think the mayor might be shamed into condemning this unlawful violence by the NYPD, yet, instead this week, he applauded the brutal and reckless actions by his NYPD officers, praising officers for their ‘restraint.’ His comments are appalling, disgraceful and disrespectful not only to the individuals shot by these officers, including one person now suffering from brain damage, but to all New Yorkers traumatized by this and all other incidents of police violence. Mayor Adams and his NYPD must be held to account, and we must completely do away with their draconian, criminalizing approach to public safety.”
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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 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.