Posts Tagged ‘nypd’
45th Precinct Residents to File Complaint Against Abusive NYPD Officers
11:08 am By Maegan La Mala · New York City|Police Violence · No Comments
7 May 2012Bronx, NY – A group of Bronx residents will gather on Monday, May 7th, at 3:30pm across the street from Lehman High School and march to the 45th NYPD precinct to file a lawsuit against two police officers accused of harassment against Lehman High School student Malik Ayala.
Ayala, 16, became the target of police harassment in the hallway of his school, while waiting to take an exam. Ayala was engaged in conversation with some of his fellow students, and demands were made for his ID, records, and documents, first by Peace Officers, then by his Dean and then by the NYPD. Ayala was told that the literature he planned to hand out to fellow students was illegal because it had the Black Panther logo. He was then issued a summons for disorderly conduct. As a result of the time he spent with officers, Ayala was forced to miss that very important examination.
Less than two weeks later, Ayala noticed a young man being arrested in the subway and began to record the police actions with his cell phone. Officers demanded to see the phone, slammed him against the wall, and searched him despite Ayala’s refusal to agree to let them do so, which was his legal right. Once again, Ayala was served with a summons for disorderly conduct.
This is not a unique case. Local youth, predominantly of color, often go through the same experience daily in their schools and communities. On Monday May 7th we will march with fellow students and residents of the Bronx community to file complaints against officers who are harassing youth of color.
In schools where the majority of the student body is comprised of youth of color from working backgrounds, young people are treated not as students, but as criminals. There are metal detectors, peace officers, and the NYPD is called in routinely. Apparently the aim is to condition the students to be subjects of a police state, to create an atmosphere of intimidation and to establish a pipeline from schools to prisons.
Who: People Power Movement, Lehman High School students, members of the Bronx community.
What: March to 45th Precinct in the Bronx.
Where: Meet across the street from Lehman High School, 3000 East Tremont, Bronx NY 10461.
When: Monday, May 7th, at 3:30pm.
Transportation: 6 Train to Westchester Square, or use www.hopstop.com
NYC Orgs Try to Redefine CPR for NYPD
1:48 pm By Maegan La Mala · New York City|Police Violence · Comments Off
27 Feb 2012Courtesy. Professionalism. Respect. That is what CPR stood for when the New York City Police Department rolled out a public relations campaign in the mid-1990′s. The PR campaign was a response to growing protests and attention against a police force that was more violent and more racist by the day. The late mid-1990′s up until 2011 saw a rise in stop and frisks against young men of color. It also saw a rise in officers acting with impunity in neighborhoods of color, harassing, abusing, and killing. Amadou Diallo, Anthony Rosario, Yong Xin Huang are just three of the names from a long list of young men of color killed by the police. Prosecutors across the boroughs, with their long history of working alongside the NYPD, failed to bring justice to the families of the dead who followed then Mayor Giuliani and Police Chief Bratton with photographs of their own disappeared. In response people took to the streets, blocked bridges and the entrances to government buildings, and there were hearings held on the local, national, and international level.
Seems like now we are in the same place again in NYC. Stop and Frisks are at record numbers and again it is people of color who are stopped the most often. Since 1997, when the New York City Department took over school safety, over 90 percent of the young people arrested in the halls of learning are Latino or Black. We are seeing a rise in killings of unarmed people of color, most recently 18 year old Ramarley Graham in the Bronx. The difference between now and the late 1990′s however is that now the level of police surveillance is up. Watchtowers stand on street corners. Mobile command centers park outside supermarkets. The NYPD most recently had to come out about spying on Muslim communities inside the city and even in New Jersey. These tactics done in the name of “national security” are the new broken windows and Giuliani time has expanded under Bloomberg’s all seeing eyes.
Many of the answers proposed to counter the threat that the NYPD pose aren’t new. City council person Jumaane Williams from Brooklyn wants police officers to give their card to every one they stop and frisk. There was a proposal in the 90′s that was similar in that it asked that officers give a paper document explaining to people why they were stopped and frisked. That proposal didn’t go anywhere and I doubt that the current proposal will go anywhere either. It seems the only union that Bloomberg seems to respect (fear?) is the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA). There are renewed calls for a special prosecutor for when police shootings end with criminal charges against the police. It is a worthy demand but without intervention from Governor Cuomo and the state Attorney General, we will continue with police not being prosecuted.
This week, a coalition of organizations who have been on the front lines of fighting police violence in NYC since the 1990′s, launched a campaign demanding police reform (their word, not mine). Communities United for Police Reform seek to end discriminatory policing practices in New York, and to build a lasting movement that promotes public safety and policing practices based on cooperation and respect– not discriminatory targeting and harassment.
Today in NYC : Day of Action Against the Layoff of the 700 DC37 Workers & Against Criminalizing Schools
8:51 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism|Education|Labor|New York City|Police Violence · Comments Off
4 Oct 2011From the VivirLatino Inbox:
DC 37 employees play a critical role in our school community as parent coordinators, tech support, and school aides who help our schools run like clockwork. They are invaluable members of every school community. Laying off DC37 workers not only hurts the learning of all children, but disproportionally affects low-income communities of color like the Bronx. Some neighborhoods are slated to lose up to 25% of their DC 37 staff members!
How can you get involved?
• Wear GREEN to school on Tuesday, October 4 to show your support to all DC37 employees throughout the city.
• Join DC37 workers at a protest rally at City Hall on Tuesday, from 4pm-6pm.
• Call 311 to tell the mayor to stop the layoffs of all 700 DC37 workers. Our students need these workers and there is a surplus in the budget!
Tuesday, October 4: Day of Action Against School Pushouts and to Create Positive Discipline in NYC Schools (City Hall, 5pm)
• In collaboration with the DC37 rally, students, parents, educators and organizers involved with Dignity in Schools Campaign-NY will also be at City Hall on Tuesday, at 5pm. This New York City rally and student street theater action is part of a national campaign supporting local and federal policy change to reduce suspensions, expulsions and arrests, and implement positive approaches to school climate and discipline like restorative practices and positive behavior supports.
• Supporters will walk from the DC37 rally to the other side of City Hall for the Street Theater Action at 5pm.October 1- October 8 (this week) National Week of Action on School Pushout.
Students and educators across the country are participating in political actions to raise awareness of the negative impacts of zero-tolerance discipline policies and over-policing of public schools. These policies contribute to a disproportionate number of poor (especially Black and Latino) students who end up dropping out of our schools. Some facts:
• Nationwide, over 1 million students who start high school this year won’t finish.
• In New York City in 2008-2009, there were 73,000 suspensions in public schools.
• Students with disabilities in NYC are four times more likely to be suspended than students without disabilities.
• More than 38,000 Black students are suspended every year in NYC, and the majority are male.
It’s Only a Matter of Time : Police Abuse Chinatown NYC Musicians
8:00 am By Maegan La Mala · New York City|Police Violence · 3 Comments
13 May 2011Ever since I came back from Los Angeles, almost two weeks ago now, there has been a mobile police unit, basically a tricked out RV, parked down the street from my apartment. The police lights are always flashing their red and blue, always in a state of warning. Police form a line where workers, families walk past everyday. There has been no incident in the neighborhood to spark this. It’s supposed to make us aware, feel safer but it’s only a matter of time.
As police nationwide are being deputized into immigration agents via programs like 287g and Secure Communities, it’s only a matter of time before the already confrontational relationship between police and the communities they work in explodes. These officers generally are not part of the neighborhoods where they patrol. They are visitors, invaders, always a state of warning because they can and will stop you.
It’s only a matter of time.
From CAAAV, Organizing Asian Communities :
On Mother’s Day last Sunday, Yi Zhuo Wu, a Chinese immigrant, was pinned down by four NYPD police officers who beat him bloody and then handcuffed him in Chinatown’s Columbus Park. Wu, a musician, is a member of the Street Musical Club, a group that has played music regularly in Columbus Park for more than four years. Aggravating the situation even further, as the community was watching Mr. Wu being arrested and calling for him to be released, a police officer threatened to mace people who did not move back.
The graphic and possibly triggering video is after the jump.
Read more…
NYC Candlelight Vigil In Memory of Iman Morales 9/23
1:19 pm By Maegan La Mala · Justice|New York City · 3 Comments
13 Sep 2010
Iman Morales was a loving son, brother and friend.
Please join his family as they remember his life and denounce his death at the hands of the NYPD.
The vigil will mark two years since Iman Morales, a 35-year-old man with mental illness was tased to his death by NYPD officers on September 24th, 2008.
After receiving the tasing order from NYPD Lieutenant Michael Pigott, despite an NYPD procedure forbidding tasing someone on an elevated surface, NYPD Sergeant Nicholas Marchesona tased Iman.
Iman, who stood naked on the ledge of a store front awning 10 feet above ground when he was jolted by the taser, was propelled to his death in front of his horrified mother as her cries for help to couch his fall were repeatedly ignored.
Lieutenant Michael Pigott who gave the taser order took his own life days later. Sergeant Marchesona, who fired the taser that killed Iman was promoted to Detective six weeks after the Killing.As Iman’s family, community members and activists, we are outraged by yet another instance of police brutality against our community and in particular against a person with mental illness. Iman’s death once again highlights the blatant misconduct exhibited by the police when responding to mental health crisis calls and underscores the lack of consideration and empathy not only for communities of color but for their own members of the New York City Police Department.
Please Join Us
Date: Friday, September 24, 2010 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Location: 489 Tompkins Avenue btwn. Decatur St.& Macdonough St. Brooklyn, NY
Directions: C Train to Kingston-Throop Station or the B25 bus to Brooklyn Ave.
Sponsored and organized by the Justice Committee
For more info contact justicecommittee@gmail.com or 212-614-5343
New York State Bill Seeks to Toss Stop and Frisk Files
6:39 am By Maegan La Mala · New York|New York City · 1 Comment
15 Jul 2010I first learned about it about 15 years ago, it being how the NYC Police Department was upping its stop and frisk operations in the name of cleaning up the city. As stop and frisk became routine, so did targeting people of color communities and very often that came with less than courteous, professional, and respectful behavior on the part of the NYPD. Complaints with the Civilian Complaint Review Board rose as did the number of lawsuits over harassment, brutality, and deaths.
Today in 2010, stop and frisks are the norm again, as is the racial profiling that tends to go with it. But what happens to the information of the stopped and the frisked especially the overwhelming majority of people who provide their ids and are never arrested or fined?
A bill presented in the NY State Senate would prevent the NYPD from keeping that information, as they do now. The NYPD argues that just because a person isn’t arrested or fined when they are stopped doesn’t mean that they are innocent. Thus the NYPD creates premptive criminal files of innocent, overwhelmingly people of color, just in case. Read more…
I.C.E Needs to Learn a Lesson from the NYPD When It Comes to Rebranding
8:56 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration · 1 Comment
22 Jun 2010That lesson is that rebranding won’t change the perceptions of the communities that continue to be brutalized.
According to an article in today’s Washington Post, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “streamlining and realigning” meant to highlight the agencies efforts against terrorism and other anti-criminal activities and take attention away from their immigration enforcement efforts including increased workplace raids and the use of local law enforcement agencies as deputized immigration agents through programs like Secure Communities and 287(g).
“Public perception is dominated by civil immigration enforcement responsibilities, even though half of the agency is devoted to something else,” Morton said recently after announcing the changes to ICE employees. “We’re not going to get away from immigration. It’s very important from a national security perspective.”
Enforcement policy will not change and since there is no immigration reform happening nationally, this means that all the posters of I.C.E. agents hugging undocumented immigrants can be hung along the border wall and handed out as souvenirs to children separated from their parents.
Ok so maybe I’m being a little dramatic but thinking about the New York City Police Department rebranding efforts after a series of police brutality incidents in the late 1990′s, I’m not to far off.
In NYC Blacks and Latinos Are All Criminal Suspects Until Further Notice
11:41 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · arizona|Immigration|New York City|race · Comments Off
20 May 2010The unlawful stopping and and frisking of people of color in NYC has been a problem for over a decade now, but technology and the current anti-Latino and anti-immigrant climate raise the stakes for these communities, our communities.
The NY Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit against the New York City Police Department over the racial profiling during increased stop and frisk operations in NYC (over 80% of those stopped are Black or Latino) and over the fact that regardless if those stopped are found doing something “criminal” or not, their names are entered in an NYPD database to be kept indefinitely creating a class of permanently criminal residents.
Guess Who Gets Stopped and Frisked the Most in NYC?
7:39 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · crime|New York City|race|Violence · 2 Comments
18 Feb 2010Despite crime being at an all-time low in the Big Apple, stop and frisks are at an all time high & guess who gets stopped and frisked the most?
A total of 575,304 people were stopped and questioned in 2009 – an 8% increase over the previous high of 531,159 in 2008, the NYPD said Tuesday…
The NYPD was required under a 2001 law to report data on those stopped, questioned and frisked.Of those stopped in 2009, roughly 57% were frisked, 6% were arrested, and another 6.2% received summonses. Blacks and Latinos were the subject of roughly 87% of the stops in 2009.
Feds Fail to Take Sean Bell Killer Cops to Task for Civil Rights Violations
9:55 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Justice|New York City · 3 Comments
16 Feb 2010
When New York City Police Officers Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper were acquitted after killing father and husband to be Sean Bell in a hail of 50 bullets, many, especially the people of color communities of NYC were outraged, but not surprised. We were told not to riot because justice system worked but for those of us in Queens, NYC who had seen the killers of 19 year old Manny Mayi get off (one becoming a police officer), for those of us who saw the police officers who killed cook Jose Librado Sanchez, because he had a knife (imagine that working in a kitchen with a knife), we knew that the Queens District Attorney’s Office had little energy or interest in mounting a strong prosecution.
And so hopes were placed in the Feds. After all the Federal Department of Justice successfully prosecuted once NYC Police officer Francis X. Livoti for violating the civil rights of Anthony Baez when he used an illegal and deadly choke hold against the Puerto Rican in 1995. Today those hopes were killed and in many ways the family and friends of Sean Bell have lost their beloved again as the the U.S. Justice Department says there’s not enough evidence to show the officers acted willfully in the death of Sean Bell.
Read more…
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