Safer NY Act News

Safer NY Act is a package of bills in the New York State Legislature that would help increase police transparency and help increase accountability to New Yorkers' most common encounters with police. The #SaferNYAct includes: the Police Statistics and Transparency (STAT) Act, codifying and strengthening the Special Prosecutor executive order, reducing Unnecessary Arrests for low-level, ticketable offenses, repealing the NYS police secrecy law (CRL section 50-a), and legalizing marijuana with strong attention paid to ensuring that resources are reinvested in communities most harmed by prohibition.

Bill would compile data on policing practices

02/16/2016
Legislative Gazette

Assemblyman Joseph Lentol and Senator Daniel Squadron are calling for New York to overhaul the system for collecting and reporting data on policing activity throughout the state.

Their Police-STAT Act (A.7698/S.6001) would allow the state to capture and publicly report statistics about policing across the state.

More than 50 people attended a press conference in the Capitol recently to call for more transparency among law enforcement data reporting.

The Police Statistics and Transparency Act

Senator Daniel Squadron & CPR's Mark Winston-Griffith Talk #PoliceSTAT Act
02/16/2016
Capital Tonight - Time Warner Cable News

Criminal justice reform has been on the table in Albany for the past year, but a big obstacle for lawmakers is disagreement over what should be done to ease tensions between police and the communities they serve. Part of the problem is information. We currently do not have an organized collection of data about policing in the state, but my next guest has a bill that would change that. The Police Statistics and Transparency Act would require the collection of data about interactions between police and the public.

For immediate release: February 9, 2016

Elected Officials & Advocates Call for New York to Modernize Police Data Reporting & Transparency with Police-STAT

Leaders urge state to lead country in addressing national problem of states’ insufficient data reporting on police activity as way to improve justice and public safety
Advocates from Communities United for Police Reform were joined by Assemblyman Joseph Lentol and Senator Daniel Squadron – the sponsors of the Police Statistics and Transparency (Police-STAT) Act – to call for New York to modernize the reporting of data on policing activity throughout the state. The Police-STAT Act (A.7698/S.6001) would allow the state to capture and publicly report vital information about policing across the state.

Take Action Today to #changetheNYPD – Campaign Updates from CPR

Posted on July 7, 2015

As the summer months heat up, so is the movement to #changetheNYPD!

Over the past few months, we’ve been organizing throughout New York to take a stand against discriminatory and abusive policing and have been calling on public officials to enact concrete changes that would bring justice, respect and safety to our neighborhoods. With your support, we believe that we can AND WILL bring meaningful, positive change to New York for our communities.
 

Policing Experts Focus on Public Trust, Accountability Measures

07/01/2015
Gotham Gazette

Just one day after NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton resisted calls from City Council members pushing police reform legislation — which followed the news that 1297 new officers will be added to the force— police accountability was scrutinized by several key players, including the NYPD Inspector General, at a forum hosted by good government group Citizens

For immediate release: May 18, 2015

Communities United for Police Reform Responds to President Obama’s Policing Task Force’s Final Report

Call for action on recommendations mirroring proposals pending before New York State and New York City

In response to President Obama announcing the release of the final report by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Communities United for Police Reform released the following statement from spokesperson Joo-Hyun Kang.

Rally for justice reform

03/17/2015
Legislative Gazette

Community groups and families of those killed by police officers joined state legislators Tuesday outside the Senate Chamber to stress the importance of police accountability and transparency.

Advocates, lawmakers urge Cuomo to appoint special prosecutors

03/17/2015
Capital NY

Dozens of advocates were joined by black and Latino lawmakers for a rally outside the Senate chambers in the Capitol on Tuesday, asking Governor Andrew Cuomo to appoint a special prosecutor when a civilian dies during police interaction. Iris Baez, mother of Anthony Baez, who died in 1994 after an apparent chokehold during a police encounter, urged Cuomo to sign an executive order to appoint a special prosecutor as soon as possible.

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