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Police Reform Toolkit

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Police Reform Toolkit POLICE REFORM TOOLKIT Gale A. Brewer Manhattan Borough President @galeabrewer www.manhattanbp.nyc.gov () - In June 2020, during the peak of protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the growing acknowledgement of systemic racism in policing nationwide, Governor Cuomo signed an Executive Order calling on each local government in New York State to adopt a policing reform plan by April of 2021, conditioning future state aid to localities upon adoption of such a plan. 146 jurisdictions in New York State have already begun this process. As part of that effort, in August the Governor established a “New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative,” calling on the state’s 500 law enforcement agencies to convene stakeholders for a dialogue on the public safety needs in their communities to help ensure that police policies meet with local communities’ acceptance—and suggested a collaborative process for localities to follow: • Review the needs of the community served by its police agency, and evaluate the department’s current policies and practices; • Establish policies that allow police to effectively and safely perform their duties; • Involve the entire community in the review; • Develop policy recommendations resulting from this review; • Present the plan to the local legislative body to ratify or adopt it, and submit it to the State Budget Director on or before April 1, 2021. As it happens, my office has been conducting police-community collaboration for years, both alone and in collaboration with Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams. In 2015, Borough President Adams, civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, and I issued a joint report on “Improving Police-Community Relations,” the result of neighborhood town halls held among community members and police representatives in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In late June, the City Council’s passage of a FY 2021 budget beginning July 1, 2020 included steps to reform and reduce the budget of the NYPD. The Citizens Budget Commission estimated the savings from these efforts: • Eliminating two of the four NYPD classes this year ($55 million); • Returning control of School Safety to the Department of Education ($300 million); • Reducing overtime spending ($352 million); • Removing crossing guards from NYPD ($42 million); and • Removing NYPD from homeless outreach. This report recaps the 2015 joint Borough President effort and examines the current state of the police budget. As a contribution to New York City’s submission of a reform plan, we identify the emerging themes of new-found momentum for police reform proposals, including: • Redesign the role of police; • Increase accountability and transparency in policing; • Demilitarize and re-train police; and • Further democratize police departments. As Governor Cuomo put it recently, “When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When all you have is a gun and a badge and the ability to arrest, that’s your only solution to that issue.” I couldn’t agree more. Gale A. Brewer Manhattan Borough President The Role of Police Many have called for reductions in the scope of policing and the nature of the police’s response to the situations they encounter. Given how many low-level offenses and nonviolent situations escalate into instances of police brutality, government officials and community activists are reexamining the role of the police. At the 2015 town halls that Borough President Adams and I conducted, participants spoke of police officers responding with excessive force to low-level, quality-of- life crimes, like public alcohol consumption, marijuana possession, disorderly conduct and trespassing. Young people in particular are fearful of armed officers’ disproportionate use of force, making young people hesitant to call the police even in emergency situations.[1] “Improving Police-Community Relations” therefore recommended police training include more robust de-escalation and mental health support training and recommended greater transparency of data regarding the use-of-force in low-level quality of life crimes by police precincts.[2] More recent recommendations remove police presence from what are currently lower-level offenses. The July 2020 NYS Office of the Attorney General (AG) “Preliminary Report on the NYPD Response to Demonstrations Following the Death of George Floyd” forcefully recommended decriminalizing quality-of-life violations that are seldom enforced in predominantly white neighborhoods but that are frequently criminalized in communities of color.[3] Police reform and abolition advocates thrust the NYPD’s FY21 budget into the spotlight during June 2020 budget negotiations. Contesting the role of police, groups such as Communities United for Police Reform called for a $1 billion cut to the NYPD expense budget to be redirected to core services programs and infrastructure for Black, Latinx and other communities of color.[4] Several advocacy groups and city stakeholders have called for decreasing police funding and reallocating those funds to provide social services, especially mental health and crisis intervention services. The AG’s report proposes the removal and replacement of armed police officers with trained professionals for mental health crises, school safety, traffic enforcement and situations with the homeless population.[5] 1 “Improving Police-Community Relations: A Report from a Series of Town Hall Meetings in Brooklyn and Manhattan.” P. 75. 2015. http://www.manhattanbp.nyc.gov/downloads/pdf/NYPD%20Town%20Hall%20Report.pdf 2 Ibid. P. 78. 3 New York State Office of the Attorney General. “Preliminary Report on the New York City Police Department’s Response to Demonstrations Following the Death of George Floyd.” P. 38. July 2020. https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2020-nypd-report.pdf 4 Communities United For Police Reform. “#DEFUNDNYPD Campaign: Council Budget Vote Fails to Cut at Least $1B from NYPD to Invest in Black, Latinx & Other Communities of Color during the Pandemic.” July 2020. https://www.changethenypd.org/ releases/defundnypd-campaign-council-budget-vote-fails-cut-least-1b-nypd-invest-black-latinx-other 5 New York State Office of the Attorney General. “Preliminary Report on the New York City Police Department’s Response to Demonstrations Following the Death of George Floyd.” P. 39-40. July 2020. https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2020-nypd-report.pdf 5 Accountability and Transparency Crucial to the conversation around police reform are increased accountability, access to data, and transparency as a response to unanswered, unresolved calls for justice surrounding recent police killings. The 2015 town halls revealed an opaqueness in the NYPD chain of communication that ultimately obstructs reform. Although community members who attended the police-community relations dialogues hoped to learn of several NYPD initiatives for reform, they expressed concern over the lack of community engagement and NYPD communication about such reforms. This lack of transparency with the community was compounded by the revelation that many of the rank-and-file officers attending the dialogues were similarly in the dark about these programs.[6] This dynamic indicates that the departmental leadership act as gatekeepers to reform processes, deciding the nature of reforms, who is involved in reform processes, and how reforms become known. The result is a communication breakdown between NYPD leadership and rank-and-file officers, and consequently between patrol officers and the members of the communities they patrol. To address this communication breakdown and lack of accountability, we identify four key areas for review: technology and data; the Civilian Complaint Review Board; legal consequences; and limiting police unions’ power to shape outcomes. Accountability and Transparency: Technology and Data In 2015, President Barack Obama established the Task Force on 21st Century Policing. One Task Force recommendation was building police-community trust through data. President Obama established the Police Data Initiative to work with 21 jurisdictions across the country to leverage open data with the aim of identifying problems early in order to increase internal accountability and decrease inappropriate use of force.[7] “Improving Police-Community Relations” recommends data collection and accessibility of the data regarding police misconduct. It suggests establishing clear guidelines for the full deployment of body-cameras on officers. Potential guidelines include specifications for body-camera utilization, how footage would be downloaded and archived, and who would ultimately have access to said footage.[8] The AG’s report also recommends that footage from body-worn cameras should be made accessible to the public as well.[9] 6 “Improving Police-Community Relations.” P. 75. 2015. http://www.manhattanbp.nyc.gov/downloads/pdf/NYPD%20Town%20Hall%20Report.pdf 7 Somanda, Tanya.”Why President Obama is Taking Steps to Demilitarize Local Police Forces.” N.p. May 18, 2015. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/05/18/why-president-obama-taking-steps-demilitarize-local-police-forces 8 “Improving Police-Community Relations.” P. 92. 2015. http://www.manhattanbp.nyc.gov/downloads/pdf/NYPD%20Town%20Hall%20Report.pdf 9 New York State Office of the Attorney General. “Preliminary Report on the New York City Police Department’s Response to Demonstrations Following the Death of George Floyd.” P. 42. July 2020. https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2020-nypd-report.pdf 6 The New York State
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