WHEN THOUSANDS OF New Yorkers poured into the city’s streets last summer following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, they were met with the very police violence they had come to protest.
Multiple cities across the country are building programs that involve mental health professionals, social workers, or community members responding to certain 911 emergency calls instead of police officers.
According to USA Today, Eugene, Oregon, Olympia, Washington, and Denver have the only existing non-police responder programs in the United States, however, more strategies and plans are being developed in various locations.
NEW YORK – Mildred Galarza and Hawa Bah wish it were someone other than armed police officers who first encountered their loved ones when they were having mental health crises.
Galarza's brother, Ariel, 49, died in 2016 after being Tasered three times by police when a neighbor in the Bronx called 911 to report a man with a knife who was pale, screaming and breathing heavily, a state report said.
A piece of legislation passed this week could lead to certain things being ‘passed’ too.
On Tuesday, the New York State Senate passed bill S1527C/A01248A (the “Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act”) legalizing the cultivating, selling and using of recreational marijuana. A source of debate and inward fighting for years, the recent
Vannesa Boateng is 16 and from the Highbridge section of the Bronx. She has never felt at ease around the many police officers she sees in her neighborhood. Instead, she says she feels watched, like “a mouse in a maze.”
“They’re here to make sure I behave,” Boateng said. “They’re here to make sure I get the cheese, and I go back home — I’m never supposed to do anything else but go to my target and go back home.”
On Wednesday, Feb. 10, civil rights groups, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the Bronx Defenders and the Center for Constitutional Rights, held a “Redefining Community Safety” town hall to discuss NYPD reforms in New York City with a focus on “Decriminalizing Protests.”
This event was one in a series of town halls and forums sponsored by the Communities United for Police Reform (CPR). The goal of these meetings is “to engage the public and the communities most harmed by the NYPD and create a real plan for change in New York City.”
Two NYPD cops who failed to get out of their patrol car while responding to a domestic violence incident involving a Brooklyn woman who was then murdered by her husband have been allowed to keep their jobs, the Daily News has learned.
Officers Wing Hong Lau and Wael Jaber drove to the home of victim Tonie Wells but never left their car the morning of Dec. 22, 2017, as temperatures hovered in the low 20s.
February 3, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: The Police Reform Movement's Goals for 2021
Kesi Foster of Communities United for Police Reform Action Fund joined the show to discuss what's next for the police reform movement in New York City, especially the next city budget fight and the 2021 city elections.
You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts, under "Max & Murphy," and listen to Max & Murphy live on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. on WBAI radio, 99.5FM or wbai.org.
From a tale of two cities to a tale of a new city.
Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered his 2021 State of the City address on January 28, emphasizing the city’s plan to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Let me tell you a story about how things change, about the way we come back, about the way we build something better,” de Blasio said.
“Let me tell you a tale of a new city,” he remarked, harkening back to his “two cities” campaign theme, which promised to end inequity.
Nearly eight months ago, Scott M. Stringer stood in Brooklyn before an angry, unsettled gathering to memorialize the death of George Floyd. The best way to honor him, Mr. Stringer said, was to send a clear message to City Hall: “It’s time to defund the N.Y.P.D. now.”
But with the New York City mayoral primary looming in June, Mr. Stringer has distanced himself from the defund movement.