In Their Own Words

Part 7: Something is really building

“The Biggest Gang Here in New York City”: From Serve and Protect to Patrol and Control

Note: PROP originally published this report in May 2013. It is available in .pdf format from the PROP website. PROP is republishing it here in multiple parts to make its content more widely available and in the hope of spreading its findings and message. This report is even more relevant in light of continued public protests and discourse on biased policing practices in NYC and the United States.

“We do need police, but we don’t need to live in a police state. And I think organizations, such as myself and others in other community groups that are out here, need to come to the table and say, ‘We appreciate you coming in to help us, in fact, we pay you to help us. So why not create a balance so that what you do and what we do comes together and complements each other?’” Rev. Al Taylor, community leader.119

“As you get to know individuals, you have more respect for them. If the officers were constant in our communities, then they would be able to develop a sense of respect for the residents of the community. When you’re rotating [officers] in and out so frequently, they don’t really get to have an understanding of the culture of the neighborhood, or get an understanding of who the residents are.” Rev. G Morgan-Thomas, community leader.120

“Give the community back the P.A.L. centers. Give the community back the Y.M.C.A.’s. Start these baseball leagues again in the community. Start these basketball tournaments again in the community. Let people have the block parties again in the community. These are the things that kept the community safe; these are the things that kept the community connected. These are the things that parents was to come out and speak with each other, and every parent knew every parent, and every parent knew every other child in the community. We don’t have that no more.” Rev. Bernard Walker, Bronx father of Jateik Reed, 19, who was beaten by NYPD officers.121

“If more people came together to improve stop-and-frisk, I think the whole system would change. It motivates me more to want to be a lawyer.” Tyquan Brehon, who was stopped more than 60 times before age 18.122

“I felt like my voice didn’t count. But… I was wrong. Because now my voice do count. And [telling my story] does stand for a great cause, and it stands for a great purpose.” Charlie Hobbs, the target of homophobic slurs by an NYPD officer, comments on PROP’s Narratives Project.123

“Something is really building. I think we have a chance to change [stop-and-frisk].” Mitchell, gay man who has been stopped and frisked four times.124

CONCLUSION: Next Steps

Our report highlights these troubling quotes, not merely because they reflect specific incidents, but because they are emblematic of objectionable and widespread attitudes and practices within the NYPD. We see the Department’s prevailing culture as toxic, fostering harsh, aggressive, and corrupt conduct by police officers without any sense that sanctions or blowback will result; in effect, offering incentives rather than consequences for bad behavior.

That the city’s Police Department pursues such misguided and aggressive policies is disturbing but should not be surprising. History and experience tell us that whenever powerful law enforcement agencies, like police or prisons that can forcibly deprive people of their freedom, operate without checks and balances within government or without external, independent oversight, abuses and corruption are inevitable. That is what Attica and Abu Graib teach us. That is what recurring police scandals that have blighted New York’s landscape all too often teach us. At this moment, the New York City Police Department is a revered, sacrosanct and politically untouchable agency. It is effectively accountable to no political figure including the city’s current mayor, or any government or civic body. Its commissioner is an iconic figure. He and his policy setting team do not have to account to anyone when they set arrest priorities or other policies for the Police Department.

Such unlimited power is dangerous, and should be unacceptable to all New Yorkers, not just the members of our city’s most marginalized groups who bear the brunt of the Police Department’s current harsh policies.

It is long past time that the NYPD stop its wasteful, ineffective, illegal, unjust, homophobic, transphobic and racially biased practices. It is way past time that the city’s citizens and elected officials demand transparency from Police Department leaders. New York City should establish an autonomous agency that monitors and assesses the Police Department’s policy agenda as to matters like arrest practices. It should also have the authority to investigate claims of abusive conduct and to punish the officers found guilty. City officials should also abolish the use of so-called productivity goals or quotas as the primary way of measuring the performance of cops on the ground.

Finally, the city should focus its resources on supporting proven problem-solving programs and services that address the social and economic difficulties plaguing our communities and that cut crime while stabilizing rather than disrupting neighborhoods. Such programs should also foster adherence to social norms while building positive rather than hostile relationships with local residents. Such an approach would help provide New Yorkers of every race and income level with the chance to fully experience a more livable, safer and inclusive city.

You can read this report in full, and many others, on PROP’s website.