[BwayDems] Stop and Listen, NYPD

[Melissa Mark-Viverito]

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Friends,

You may have heard already, but yesterday NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly appeared before
the City Council and things got a bit heated. The Commissioner defended the NYPD's
Stop and Frisk policies, without exception, and further accused myself and others
of not having any solutions to gun violence in our communities. I have to admit 
that I am frustrated by the Commissioner's stance.

As you know, months ago, our community released the Youth Violence Task Force Report
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109548396732&s=119&e=001yh-5rg0SRhRK7OYXcVyY1o9ePFZgTRdOSrQsVDjb6QH_wINNfGuQQSVdyP4lpfyQtPqB1xeyFwKi0APaY6ZHvGaG-9ncffWkgaF9mZSBSgNJRtPwTNcUnyvXnGr7UVVtC7ppo0etyl091V2Xw72eiOoHyEuaTftJrtt9KNi40lZ0EtJvyvtR6CaN6oYaBNqTr0LQNPuZDemNJVZF4HCpag==],
which provided ten key recommendations for stemming the tide of violence that has
affected El Barrio/East Harlem. This report was created by the community's youth,
many of whom were desperate to take ownership of an issue that impacts their life
chances in every way. We are already in the midst of implementing these strategies,
which include implementing the "Violence Interrupters" model in our neighborhood.

I would note that this report received little media coverage. Perhaps that is why
the Commissioner knew nothing about the efforts of these youth. I could forgive 
him for that, but his disposition reveals a deeper problem: Not only does he consider
the feelings of the minority community broadly irrelevant to conducting good police
work, but he also labors under the delusion that only the NYPD is taking ownership
of the gun violence issue. Communities of color and their elected officials have
 had little to nothing productive to say, according to this public servant.

And let's not forget the record on Stop and Frisk. According to the New York Civil
Liberties Union [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109548396732&s=119&e=001yh-5rg0SRhTAt6N-rqQy9xYojV6gUtuHpH1nX9iczGw9lKgGAOfIrVxhcA9b1csrBuwecEabdKl_w335uJR-yuRpSh30oGu51T8tbf4qprnTUi1b9L89m_XYlAL15XLABHCRkAJoOAMzqPIEbg3pXNmGOuKdeOD_N_F4JWy4kIGKwgna-l8q-g==],
the NYPD stopped a record 684,000 people in 2011. 12 percent of those resulted in
an arrest or summons. That means that over 603,000 people were stopped and "questioned"
despite having committed no crime whatsoever! Among the innocents, 53 percent were
identified as black and 34 percent were Latino. Only 9 percent were white. Is this
really what we're calling an effective policy?

I'd add that a recent Quinnipiac poll explained that the African-American and Latino
communities were broadly opposed to these policies. I quoted this poll's findings
to the Commissioner to demonstrate that black and brown communities know that, contrary
to Commissioner Kelly's claims, they are not served by Stop and Frisk. When the 
police are justified only 1 in 10 times, one can only infer that preconceptions 
about black and brown urban communities are the criteria used for executing this
 "effective" strategy.

Commissioner Kelly was deaf to evidence pointing in the opposite direction of his
conclusions. So what if the communities he claims to be protecting feel alienated
by his policies, Commissioner Kelly and the NYPD claim to know best.

This is awful considering that, every day, our communities are doing their very 
best to mold a better tomorrow. That is what the Youth Violence Task Force is all
about; that is what Participatory Budgeting is about. We, as a community, understand
better than anyone that our communities are under tremendous strain. AND WE HAVE
 ANSWERS [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109548396732&s=119&e=001yh-5rg0SRhRfSeapDyaxX2l3ieQfxqc7hhsw2hYzb4NeGZNKaeTKLvpFnWapZlj_I-z3VqbSNS5jkkuMyCObSNG9zdUC7JF8v0Z--PYJyPAlm7-wH5oxhTTIcVMLlLyD0Fjn6lZITqItf4WmYV8etDg7_vk_t9NFcggILgxExuYvXJusfVAMPA7ULf25wyplr9PtZPCYl0akGm7fEqo6XhhCmhtL5BqF].

If the Commissioner and others would only take the time to hear us, work with us,
and most importantly open their minds to alternatives, I am confident that we could
together build a better tomorrow for all New Yorkers. As it stands now, the NYPD
 is to policies like Stop and Frisk that have a limited effect while leaving permanent
scars on those unfortunate enough to be shoved up against a wall or thrown against
the ground on the 1 in 10 chance that they might have done something wrong.

Melissa
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Office of Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito | 105 East 116th Street | New York | NY | 10029
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