City Leaders, Law Enforcement Associations & Advocates to Call for NYPD Unions to End Obstruction on Stop-and-Frisk Reforms, Stop Holding New Yorkers’ Rights Hostage to Contract Negotiations
Groups file amici brief to oppose police unions’ endless legal efforts to continue Bloomberg administration’s stalling on reforms to protect New Yorkers’ fundamental civil rights
New Yorkers to stress need for court-ordered reform process inclusive of affected communities and other stakeholders to enact lasting reforms beyond drop in number of stops
WHAT: Press conference to demand NYPD unions stop obstructing stop-and-frisk reforms and separate their contract negotiations from moving forward to protect New Yorkers’ rights, as groups announce legal filings to oppose NYPD unions’ blocking of reform process
WHEN: Wednesday, September 24 at Noon
WHERE: City Hall steps, Lower Manhattan
WHO:
Council Member Jumaane D. Williams, Deputy Leader of NYC Council
Council Member Brad Lander, Deputy Leader for Policy of NYC Council
Council Member Andy King, co-chair of NYC Council Black, Latino & Asian Caucus
Council Member Rosie Mendez, co-chair of NYC Council Black, Latino & Asian Caucus
Council Member Helen Rosenthal, Vice-Chair of NYC Council Progressive Caucus
Charles B. Billups, Chairperson of the Grand Council of Guardians
Anthony Miranda, Latino Officers Association
Kirsten John Foy, Northeast Regional Director of National Action Network
Djibril Toure, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Shelby Chestnut, NYC Anti-Violence Project
Center for Constitutional Rights
Communities United for Police Reform
WHY: Under the previous Bloomberg administration, the use of stop-and-frisk increased by more than 600 percent. Nearly nine in ten of those stopped were neither arrested nor issued a summons, and nearly 90% of those stopped were Black or Latina/o. New Yorkers were stopped by the NYPD over half a million times in 2012 and over 5 million stops were made throughout the Bloomberg administration. The NYPD’s own data showed its exploding, discriminatory use of stop-and-frisk failed to make a notable impact on gun violence.
In August of 2013, a Federal court ruled that the Bloomberg administration’s stop-and-frisk policy was unconstitutional. The Bloomberg administration and police unions sought to appeal the ruling and delay the implementation of the court’s joint remedy process. The de Blasio administration reached an agreement with plaintiffs to drop the city’s appeal and move forward with the process, but police unions continue to seek legal maneuvers that delay the development and implementation of lasting reforms. After the lower court denied the unions’ motions to intervene in the case, they are once again going before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, this time to request intervening status in the case. Their efforts only delay the beginning of a collaborative process uniting communities with law enforcement and other stakeholders in developing reforms and solutions to stop-and-frisk abuses that violated New Yorkers’ civil rights. That process is critical to ensuring there are lasting reforms, beyond the decrease in the number of stops conducted, to protect the fundamental civil rights of New Yorkers.
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