CPR Statement Re: Announcement by Mayor de Blasio & Commissioner Bratton on NYPD communication retraining

In response to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announcing that NYPD officers will receive communications retraining, Communities United for Police Reform released the following statement from spokesperson Priscilla Gonzalez.

"Improving NYPD interactions with the public is a critical component to progressing police-community relations and ending abusive policing practices, and we are pleased it is something in which the de Blasio administration has expressed interest. Requiring officers to identify and explain themselves to the public during these interactions, and requiring officers to obtain informed consent when seeking to conduct a search where there is no specific legal basis, are two policies that have been proposed by Council Member Jumaane Williams and advocated for by Communities United for Police Reform. We urge the administration to formally adopt these policies in its effort to substantially improve the dynamic and transparency during NYPD's interactions with the public."

BACKGROUND

The two proposed policies referenced were previously part of the Community Safety Act legislative reform package, but were not voted on last summer with the laws to establish an NYPD inspector general and ban discriminatory profiling. Communities United for Police Reform has recommended adopting the policies in its report Safety & Civil Rights for All New Yorkers: Fulfilling Pledges on Policing & Community Safety for the Mayor's First 100 Days.

Requiring officers to identify and explain themselves to the public (Intro. 801): Requires officers to provide the specific reason for their law enforcement activity, such as a stop-and-frisk; and requires officers to provide document to the person with the officer's name and information on how to file a complaint at the end of each police encounter. Similar laws exist in Arkansas, Minnesota and Colorado.
- For many New Yorkers - particularly those whose communities are most aggressively policed - encounters with police are made all the more fearful and unpleasant by the failure of officers to identify themselves as law enforcement officials. Research suggests that in the absence of anonymity, officers are less likely to engage in brutal, abusive and discourteous behavior.

Protecting New Yorkers against unlawful searches (Intro. 799): Ends the practice of the NYPD deceiving New Yorkers into consenting to unnecessary searches; Requires officers to explain that a person has the right to refuse a search when there is no warrant or probable cause; and requires officers to obtain proof of consent to a search. Similar laws exist in Colorado & West Virginia.
- Currently, too many New Yorkers are unaware that they need not consent to a search for which there is no other constitutional basis. Too many officers exploit this lack of knowledge or violate New Yorkers' constitutional rights.

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.

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