NYCLU Launches "Campaign to Stop Police Brutality"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, January 10, 1999

NEW YORK — The New York Civil Liberties today launched a three-year “Campaign to Stop Police Brutality.”

“The objective of the Campaign is to inform New Yorkers about the problem of police misconduct and to offer specific recommendations that would make the NYPD more accountable to the residents of New York City,” said Norman Siegel, Executive Director of the NYCLU.

“Inherent in the concept of democracy is the notion of civilian oversight and control over those empowered to use deadly physical force,” Siegel added. “Unfortunately, this idea has not been achieved satisfactorily in New York. Our goal is to change that.”

Specifically, Siegel said, the campaign will seek to support and strengthen the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board — the agency empowered to exercise oversight and control over the NYPD — and create a special prosecutor for police brutality and corruption.

“This Campaign is not anti-cop — it is anti-bad cop. Moreover, the Campaign is pro-fairness and pro-accountability,” Siegel added. “We can have effective law enforcement and respect for civil liberties and civil rights. They are not mutually exclusive. We can and must have both.”

Siegel concluded that the aim of the campaign is to bring about systemic reform at the NYPD in order to improve police-community relations. “We believe we will do exactly that,” he said.

In addition to strengthening the civilian review board and creation of a special prosecutor, Siegel said the Campaign will seek to:

• Eliminate the 48-hour rule under which police officers are not required to speak to NYPD investigators for 48 hours after being identified as suspects.

• Advocate for a residency requirement tied to an affirmative action plan for police officers to improve police/community relations and increase the effectiveness of the NYPD.

• Improve the kind of training police officers receive at the academy, and in the precinct, to include discussions about race-relations and community-police relations.

• Create elected Police Community Advisory Boards to monitor police activity at the precinct level.

• Work with police officers to advocate for policy changes (e.g. police pay, improved facilities, and increased use of computers) that will improve police morale which will ultimately improve community-police relations.

The Campaign will organize and make presentations to community boards, community, civic, religious and professional groups. The Campaign will also establish a Speakers Bureau and develop public art projects to assist in our public education efforts.

The Campaign’s goal is to have some of the proposals adopted as laws of the city and state, while others could be implemented as executive orders of the Mayor or Governor.

The Campaign has a thirty-three person Advisory Committee made up of a diverse consortium of community leaders. (A list of the members is below.)

NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

The Campaign to Stop Police Brutality
a proposal for making the NYPD accountable to New Yorkers

January 1999

The alleged beating and torture of Abner Louima at the 70th Precinct Station House in Flatbush, Brooklyn on August 9, 1997 drew much-needed attention to a city-wide problem the NYCLU has been working to ameliorate for a half a century: police brutality.

When the story broke, New Yorkers were shocked and outraged. In response to their strong reaction, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani established a Task Force on Police/Community Relations. Norman Siegel, Executive Director of the NYCLU, and two other members of the NYCLU Board of Directors (Margaret Fung and Michael Meyers) were asked to serve. While this Task Force had the potential to get to the core of the police brutality problem by conducting a comprehensive and systematic review of the NYPD, it was ultimately dismantled after being used as a public relations ploy.

However, the NYCLU did benefit greatly from the experience.

The NYCLU’s participation on the Task Force provided us with an insider’s point of view on how New York City’s government operates. We gleaned information on the inner workings of the NYPD that helps us to better understand the roots of some of the systemic problems at the Police Department. We developed comprehensive recommendations for improving the NYPD. We identified avenues for future investigation of the NYPD. And, we found that there is a broad base of support among New Yorkers, residents and police officers alike, for reforming the NYPD. To continue to expand this support, the NYCLU has decided to launch a three-year, citywide, public education campaign for police accountability.

The objective of the Campaign is to educate New Yorkers about the problems of police misconduct and the specific recommendations that would establish a system of accountability for the actions of the individual members and the leadership of the NYPD. To this end, the Campaign will seek to:

• Support and strengthen the Civilian Complaint Review Board — the agency empowered to exercise oversight and control over the NYPD.
• Create a Special Prosecutor for police brutality and corruption.
• Eliminate the 48-hour rule whereby police officers are not required to speak to NYPD investigators for 48 hours after being identified as suspects.
• Advocate for a residency requirement tied to an affirmative action plan for police officers to improve police/community relations and increase the effectiveness of the NYPD.
• Improve the kind of training police officers receive at the academy, and in the precinct, to include discussions about race-relations and community-police relations.
• Create elected Police Community Advisory Boards to monitor police activity at the precinct level.
• Work with police officers to advocate for policy changes (e.g. police pay, improved facilities, and increased use of computers) that will improve police morale which will ultimately improve community-police relations.

This Campaign will organize and make presentations to community boards, community, civic, religious and professional groups, and editorial boards; establish a speakers’ bureau, use mail, e-mail, the World Wide Web, newspapers, radio, cable, television advertising, and public art.

The Campaign to Stop Police Brutality will present the problems of police misconduct along with proposals that would make the NYPD accountable to the residents of New York City. We look forward to some of these proposals being adopted as laws of the city and state, while others could be more easily implemented as executive orders of either the Mayor or the Governor.

An Advisory Committee to the Campaign consists of a broad range of New Yorkers including:

• Margaret Fung, Executive Director, Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund
• Ron Daniels, Executive Director, Center for Constitutional Rights
• Frank Serpico, former NYPD officer
• Charles Billups, President of the Guardians Association
• Anthony Miranda, President of the Latino Officers Association
• Rev. Al Sharpton
• Rabbi Judith Lewis
• Vijay Bali, Executive Director, United Yellow Cab Association
• Ron Kuby, Attorney
• Vanessa Ramos, attorney
• Iris Baez, mother of Anthony Baez
• Mary Gaines, stepmother of Nathaniel Gaines

The Campaign’s staff includes: Norman Siegel, NYCLU Executive Director; Arthur Eisenberg, NYCLU Legal Director; Edward Borges, NYCLU Legislative Director; Christopher Johnson, Coordinator; Melissa Woods, Law Graduate; Bradley McCallum, Artist-in-Residence; and Laurel Benjamin, Project Assistant.

NYCLU Web Site: http://www.nyclu.org