NYPD's Racist Practices

Dear Friends:   PROP continues its work aimed at exposing the blatantly racist practices that the NYPD carries out everyday under the dubious banner of quota-driven 'broken windows' policing. Here is the latest report from our Court Monitoring Project and additional stories that we will include in our soon to be released report, That's How They Get You, a compilation of over 100 vignettes detailing New Yorkers' negative encounters with NYPD officers.   Court Monitoring Project   As part of a class project and under PROP's auspices, students at CUNY's LaGuardia College visited the arraignment parts of the City's criminal courts and observed and recorded the proceedings. Here are their principal findings:   Out of 349 cases where the defendants' race could be determined, 320 individuals, or 92.5%, were people of color.   Common charges included: open alcohol container, disorderly conduct, trespass, marijuana possession, theft of services (fare-beating), and driving with a suspended license.   Adding these findings to the figures that our Court Monitoring Project has already compiled brings the new totals to: out of 1,199 cases seen,1,117, or 93.2%, have involved people of color.   More Stories   Two police officers stopped and questioned an African-American fourteen-year-old girl while she was on her way to school — she was only one block away. When she protested, the officers arrested her and charged her with truancy. She understood, as many people in her community who are treated similarly do, that her real offense was "insisting on her rights."   A 50-year-old man was caught up in a "lucky bag" sting. He picked up a handbag left on a bench in Sara Roosevelt Park in Manhattan. The handbag contained a wallet with $3.00 and when the man brought it to an officer, the officer arrested him on the charge of possession of stolen property.    A lawyer working in the arraignment part in Brooklyn reports that the same police officers have arrested and locked up her client, a middle-aged African-American man, on five separate occasions on the charge of selling loose cigarettes. Unusually, he has persisted in rejecting an ACD or a plea. He has denied the charges, insisting on his innocence and stating that the officers are "flaking" him — planting evidence and lying about it. He plans to take all five open cases to trial.   A police officer issued a summons to a man for walking between the cars of a stopped subway train. The officer apologized: "I'm sorry, but it's the 26th of the month and I have to make my quota."   Please feel free to be in touch with any questions and/or comments. As always, many thanks for your interest and support. Onward, Robert Gangi Director Police Reform Organizing Project Cell: 917-327-7648 bgangi@propnyc.org   Destinie Keyes Project Coordinator Police Reform Organizing Project dkeyes@propnyc.org   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PROP's Upcoming Events:   City-wide PROP Meeting: We will gather at our regular monthly session — Tuesday, May 19th from 6 to 8PM at the Ethical Culture Society at 2 West 64th Street — to review relevant issues and events and to plan actions and strategies to move our agenda for sweeping NYPD reforms. We will focus especially on discussing our next targeted action which will involve PROPers and their allies setting up in one or more of the city's white neighborhoods where we will hand out mock summonses for activities like bike on the sidewalk, jaywalking, spitting, open alcohol container, and park after dark — innocuous activities that police all too often arrest and ticket people of color for but which have been virtually decriminalized in white areas. This action has the potential to be instructive and effective and to garner press coverage, but it also requires our best thinking and planning for it to come off successfully. So please do not hesitate to join your fellow concerned New Yorkers in helping to plot the best approaches for carrying out this activity. Court Monitoring: PROP is continuing its Court Monitoring Project in which we go into the arraignment parts of New York City Courts and record data in an effort to expose the effect of "broken windows" policing on low-income communities of color. We have an upcoming court monitoring trip this month: Friday, May 22nd at 9:30AM at Brooklyn Criminal Court at 120 Schermerhorn St. Interested people should contact Bob Gangi at 917-327-7648 and plan to spend at least 1 hour sitting in the courtroom observing and recording the proceedings. Petition Day: On Saturday, May 30th, from 1 to 5PM, PROP volunteers will travel to different locations in the city to carry out our ongoing petition drive to show policymakers and the press that the support for sweeping NYPD reforms is diverse and widespread. We will add signatures collected during our Petition Day to the list of  over 19,000 people who have signed their support. Anyone interested in participating in this activity should contact Bob Gangi at 917-327-7648 or bgangi@propnyc.org. Link to Director Email Link to Twitter Link to Facebook

This email was sent to suzannahbtroy@icloud.com why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences Police Reform Organizing Project · 307 West 36th Street · 12th Floor · New York, NY 10018 · USA