In the Media

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.

How are states revamping policing policy after the fallout from George Floyd's murder? In very different ways

05/05/2021
Lohud

A few days before former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd, Iowa’s House of Representatives was debating the legal immunity officers have for their on-the-job actions.

The April 14 floor debate was over a large policing policy bill that included whether to expand the qualified immunity that shields officers from civil penalties.

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.

Denver and more U.S. cities successfully sending mental health responders instead of police

04/05/2021
The Grio

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.

It’s working in Eugene, Olympia, Denver: More cities are sending civilian responders, not police, on mental health calls

It’s working in Eugene, Olympia, Denver: More cities are sending civilian responders, not police, on mental health calls
04/05/2021
USA Today

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.

Marijuana legalization comes of New York: what’s next?

04/01/2021
Amsterdam News

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

Civil rights groups hold town hall to discuss NYPD reforms around ‘decriminalizing’ protests

02/12/2021
AM NY

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.”

Executive Order Forces New York City To Have (Another) Go At Police Reform

02/12/2021
Gothamist

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.”

‘How are they even on the force?’: NYPD cops allowed to keep jobs after not getting out of car before Brooklyn woman’s murder

02/08/2021
New York Daily News

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.

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