CPR Statement: Communities United for Police Reform calls for lasting safety solutions, not fear tactics as cover to flood communities of color with police
The following is a statement from Monifa Bandele, member of Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, on behalf of Communities United for Police Reform in response to Mayor Adams’ latest press antics seeking to excuse his administration’s commitment to investing in police over communities. This time ghost guns are his tool to scare New Yorkers.
“The mayor is once again using scare tactics to push his agenda to invest in the NYPD instead of health care, education, and mental health services for New Yorkers. Guns on our streets are a very real problem, and we know that flooding our streets, parks and subways with police has done nothing to stop them. Instead of creating real and lasting solutions to gun violence, the mayor is scaring people with ghost guns and demanding allegiance to the police department as the only solution to gun violence. But New Yorkers are not buying what he is selling, and his tanking poll numbers show it. The police are not keeping us safe, and neither is this administration. The safest communities in New York City are not the ones flooded with police but are the ones most resourced.
Over just the past two weeks, we have heard from two major groups that the NYPD is not living up to its promises to New Yorkers. An independent federal monitor has shown that the NYPD is underreporting the number of people it stops-and-frisks, and the city’s independent police review board found that 145 officers should be disciplined for misconduct that occurred during the George Floyd protests. The mayor wants us to trust the police even as they get away with violence in our communities.
We are concerned about the gun violence in our city, and we also know that escalating police power is just going to add more violence to our communities. We agree that the federal government needs to act against companies that create untraceable gun parts, and we believe that our city needs a community-centered response to gun violence. The mayor’s approach is failing, so he has resorted to fearmongering. New Yorkers know that investing in communities, not cops, is what can help us reach a future that makes us all truly safe.”
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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.