Ray Kelly, the commissioner of a police department that’s currently awaiting the decision in a federal trial over the constitutionality of its stop-and-frisk practice, a department that ran a massive program of spying on New York City’s muslim community, made statements condemning the NSA for the secrecy of its phone and electronic communications surveillance programs, […]
This week, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement recommending that a court-appointed monitor be put in place to independently oversee the NYPD, should the courts rule against the city in the federal trial over stop-and-frisk. New York City Mayor and police booster number one Michael Bloomberg, unsurprisingly, called this a “terrible idea.” Addressing reporters in […]
Running parallel to the increased discussion of stop-and-frisk brought on by the federal trial over the practice and the coming mayoral election has been the question of police oversight. If the NYPD is indeed violating the rights of New Yorkers, should an independent monitor be brought in to oversee the department. According to the U.S. […]
Quotas have been near the center of the debate about stop-and-frisk since the federal trial of the controversial NYPD practice began. If commanding officers are enforcing numerical goals for arrests, tickets, and stops (and they are), goes the plaintiffs’ line of argument, then that would incentivize officers on the street to stop a person even […]
In a press conference Monday, Mayor Bloomberg said that in the wake of the Boston bombings, our interpretation of the Constitution should change in order to allow for increased surveillance and security. “The people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry,” he said. “But we live in a complex world where you’re going […]
After a forum during which seven mayoral candidates described their plans to improve New York City’s safety, Mayor Bloomberg described the proceedings as “really depressing.” “Not one addressed the real issues,” he said. “Not one had any creative ideas, other than they wanted apple pie and ice cream and not have anybody pay for it. […]
An independent office to oversee the NYPD’s operations would “make our city less safe,” according to Mayor Bloomberg, who vowed to veto the proposal to create such an office it gets to his desk. The bill, supported by mayoral candidates Christine Quinn and Bill de Blasio, as well as groups like the NYCLU, would create […]
As stop-and-frisk goes on trial at Manhattan Federal Court, another hearing on the state of the police department happened in Jamaica, Queens last night. At a mayoral debate, seven candidates discussed the NYPD, focusing on stop-and-frisk, commissioner Ray Kelly, and the proposal to create an independent inspector general to oversee the department’s operations. The highest-profile […]
Audio evidence in the federal case against the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practice, obtained by the Nation, confirms that the NYPD enforces arrest quotas, and that they are supported by the police officers’ union. In the tape, a union delegate can be heard saying, “I spoke to the CO [commanding officer] for about an hour-and-a-half. 20-and-1. 20-and-1 is what the […]
Blackout Books was the archetypical “radical bookstore,” a small project started in 1993 by a handful of people selling books from a table during punk shows at the activist center and gallery space ABC No Rio. After about a year of fundraising, they signed a lease for a storefront on Avenue B in the East […]
