In the Media

De Blasio flexes progressive muscle in stop-and-frisk case

01/30/2014
MSNBC

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, sticking to a campaign promise to chip away at New York City’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy, announced on Thursday that the city has filed paperwork to drop the city’s appeal to a federal judge’s ruling that the city had violated the constitutional rights of innocent minorities.

The announcement could be the first steps in reforming the much maligned tactic.

Activists vs. cops in frisk case

01/16/2014
Queens Chronicle

Activists and city officials, including new Public Advocate Letitia James, announced last Friday that advocates will take legal action against police union efforts to overturn a new law meant to stop police frisks of people due to their appearance.
The move is the latest in a series of legal maneuvers taken by both sides in the controversy over police stops and frisks.

Police critics on Bratton’s Broken Windows push

01/14/2014
Capital NY

Critics of the Bloomberg administration's police policies say they're concerned about the direction of the department under Bill de Blasio after learning that NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton planned to hire an author of the Broken Windows theory.

The theory emphasizes strict enforcement of quality-of-life crimes as a way to deter more serious and violent crime.

Stop Stopping Stop-and-Frisk Law, Say Activists

01/11/2014
Epoch Times

NEW YORK — Community activists said on Friday that the battle to stop the NYPD from engaging in biased-based profiling isn’t over.

Back in August, after a long political battle, the City Council passed Local Law 71. The law is designed to curb the NYPD’s profiling based on factors like race, religion, sexual orientation, or housing status.

In October, the police union responded with a lawsuit to block the law.

At a Communities United for Police Reform press event at City Hall on Friday, activists called on the Police Union to drop the lawsuit.

Activists Rally at City Hall in Support of Community Safety Act

01/10/2014
NY1 News

Activists took to the steps of City Hall Friday to rally in support of non-discrimination laws, which the police union is trying to get rid of.

Last year, the City Council passed the Community Safety Act over the veto of then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The law makes it easier for people to sue the New York City Police Department if they felt they had been profiled.

The Patrolman's Benevolent Association filed a lawsuit against the legislation.

They say it unfairly punishes officers who are trying to do their job.

Bill de Blasio appoints William Bratton Police Commissioner, reactions pour in

12/05/2013
New York Daily News

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio's pick for Police Commissioner prompted a range of reactions across the city Thursday.

Prominent New Yorkers, the police unions and civil rights groups at loggerheads with the NYPD over "stop-and-frisk" policing all weighed in on the selection of former top cop Bill Bratton to replace outgoing Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Communities United for Police Reform hosts forum on policing and redefining public safety

12/05/2013
New York Amsterdam News

Last week, Communities United for Police Reform hosted an open dialogue at the Talking Transition tent in Chelsea on the future of public safety in New York City. A panel of social justice advocates engaged in social discourse and discussed issues that highlighted a direction the de Blasio administration should take on policing community safety to keep our streets safe without discrimination.

New report on stop and frisk policy

Attorney General’s Office shares new findings after studying arrests
11/21/2013
Queens Chronicle

The stop and frisk debate continues and now a new study has been thrown into the mix.

The New York Attorney General’s Office released a report last week that supports the claim that the policy targets mostly young men of color and did not reduce crime.

“Supporters and opponents of the practice agree that only 6 percent of all stops result in an arrest,” the report reads. “Yet until now, no known study has sought to assess what happens following those arrests.”

Four police unions plan to file stop-and-frisk appeal

11/07/2013
Capital NY

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and three other police unions announced today they will file an appeal to intervene in the stop-and-frisk case in anticipation of mayor-elect Bill de Blasio's withdrawal of the city's challenge to the suit.

The four unions representing 29,000 police officers, detectives, lieutenants and and captains plans to file the motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit. This marks the second time the law-enforcement unions are attempting to be part of the case.

CNN’s Don Lemon on ‘stop and frisk’: ‘Would you rather be politically correct or safe and alive?’

11/05/2013
The Raw Story

CNN anchor Don Lemon credited the heavily-criticized “stop and frisk” approach by New York City police with a dramatic reduction in local crime in a radio commentary on Tuesday, and suggested that tampering with it would hurt not just the city’s residents, but its economy.

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