In the Media

People Are Mad as Hell About the NYPD’s Plan to Hire ‘Precinct Greeters’

“We are trying to defund you people. Stop coming up with fake jobs. Learn how to talk to people like decent human beings.”
10/07/2021
Vice

NYPD brass and Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week that they’re taking a page out of the Walmart playbook: hiring brand-new “greeters” at all 77 police precincts in the city, who will have the sole responsibility of welcoming people and guiding them to the right offices and officers for the services or paperwork they need.

NYPD Sergeant Who Fatally Shot Deborah Danner To Face Disciplinary Hearing

10/04/2021
Gothamist

An NYPD sergeant could face discipline in the fatal shooting of Deborah Danner, five years after the Bronx woman’s death helped ignite a citywide reassessment of the role of police in responding to mental health calls.

Sergeant Hugh Barry is scheduled to begin a weeks-long department trial on Tuesday. He will be brought up on administrative charges of failure to supervise and poor tactical judgement in the high-profile killing.

The Root Institute 2021: Defund, Abolish or Reform? What to Do About Police and Prisons

09/21/2021
The Root

Say what you want, but here’s what we know to be true: the current state of over-policing in our communities combined with the prison industrial complex have created an existential crisis that needs to be sorted out, sorted through and resolved. The two women Michael Harriot spoke with in this episode of The Root Institute are unapologetic about their stances on this subject.

‘Our Message Is Clear: Defund the Police, Invest in Our Communities’

Activists and community members gathered over the weekend to unveil five new community murals advocating the defunding of the NYPD
06/08/2021
BK Reader

Carl Stubbs put it simply: “I wonder what my life would be like if the money used to arrest me and lock me up was instead used to support my education and help me get a job?”

Stubbs, who has been affected by and fighting mass incarceration “my whole life,” posed the rhetorical question over the weekend to a crowd gathered for the unveiling of five community murals demanding a defunding of the NYPD.

First arrested at age 12, Stubbs said he spent the next 20 years “going in and out of jail, mostly committing crimes because I couldn’t find a job.”

Nation marks one year since George Floyd police murder

05/27/2021
Amsterdam News

Tuesday marked one year since the May 25, 2020 police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Several events across the country and the city took place to remember the incident that ignited a nationwide racial reckoning and calls for police reforms.

The infamous cellphone video of former police officer Derek Chauvin putting his knee on Floyd’s neck during an arrest for more than nine minutes was forever cemented as a dark moment in American history. Last month, justice was served as Chauvin was convicted on two counts of murder and is facing up to 40 years in prison.

Thousands Of New Yorkers Mark One-Year Anniversary Of George Floyd's Death

05/26/2021
Gothamist

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across New York City on Tuesday night, marking the one-year anniversary of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin, who in April was convicted by a jury of murder and manslaughter. Marches, rallies, and vigils around the city paid tribute to Floyd and demanded an end to systemic racism in American law enforcement, including the NYPD.

Internal NYPD Documents Show Cops Were Sent To Protests With Barely Any First Amendment Training

Most officers at the George Floyd protests received only vague academy training that emphasized arresting protesters over defending their rights.
05/05/2021
The Intercept

LAST YEAR, after New York officials announced a plan to dispatch 500 additional police officers to the city’s subway system, a coalition of activist groups organized a series of protests. On January 31, they held a “day of transit action” that saw small demonstrations pop up at stations and on trains across the city. “Fuck your $2.75,” a flyer promoting the event read, referring to the cost of a subway ride.

Opinion: Rightsizing the Police Budget will Enable a Safer, Healthier and More Equitable City

05/05/2021
Gotham Gazette

On April 26, Mayor de Blasio presented his executive budget plan for the city’s next fiscal year, FY22, which begins July 1. In it, he included slight increases to the NYPD’s budget. This comes on the heels of the largest civil rights movement in a generation demanding reinvestments and the heartbreaking murders of Adam Toledo and Daunte Wright. If I were in the City Council now, I would fight for a right-sized police budget and deep investments into community care when the adopted budget is agreed upon in June.

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