Prison justice advocates demanded on Monday that the NYPD do away with its controversial gang database, alleging it contributes to discriminatory policing concentrating on Black and Brown New Yorkers.
Photograph by Dean Moses
Prison justice advocates demanded on Monday that the NYPD do away with its controversial gang database, alleging it contributes to discriminatory policing concentrating on Black and Brown New Yorkers.
Prime police brass, together with Commissioner Jessica Tisch, have repeatedly cited the division’s Discriminatory Prison Group Database as an instrumental device used to trace and in the end arrest set off pullers who open hearth in New York communities.
Nonetheless, those that say they’ve discovered themselves on the incorrect aspect of the listing, together with authorized specialists and advocates, charged outdoors Metropolis Corridor on Feb. 24 that the database is a racist index, with 96% of all included on the record being Black and Latino people.
Photograph by Dean Moses
The G.A.N.G.S. Coalition rallied on the steps of Metropolis Corridor on Monday morning forward of a Metropolis Council listening to specializing in Intro 798 that — if handed — would abolish the index and stop police from accessing the data. They might even be compelled to inform anybody within the database.
Many audio system wept as they spoke, referring to it as inherently racist.
Bronx Council Member Althea Stevens, a sponsor of the invoice, stated that she initially was not on board with the modification as a result of spate of shootings plaguing the town however added that she modified her thoughts when she realized extra concerning the database.
Photograph by Dean Moses 
Photograph by Dean Moses
“After doing my own research and seeing the impact, talking to folks, understanding that this database is 96% Black and Brown young people, once we got there, there was nothing else — nothing else for me to research, because you cannot tell me that in New York City we only have Black and Brown gangs,” Stevens stated. “This is about surveillance, this is about oppression, and this is about not trusting our community.”
The NYPD has stated it adamantly disagrees with the accusations of racism and discrimination. Earlier this month, on Feb. 5, the police division and Brooklyn District Lawyer Eric Gonzalez introduced the indictment of 14 gang members who left a path of bullets within the Sheepshead Bay and Coney Island part of the borough.
Tisch attributed the slew of arrests to the database, charging that anybody in favor of scrapping it doesn’t perceive its function and significance in combating crime for all New Yorkers.
“Let me be clear: being included in this database is not a crime, and it is in no way proof of criminal behavior, but it does provide the intelligence necessary for investigators to build a strong conspiracy case, and in this instance, it helped close out two dozen acts of violence,” Tisch stated.
Photograph by Dean Moses
Critics accuse legislation enforcement of including youth to the index — some as younger as 13 years of age — who they are saying usually are not gang members. The advocates say mere acquaintances of gang members are positioned into the database for simply being seen with them.
“It has always been wrong and dangerous to surveil and label Black and Latino New Yorkers as members of “criminal groups” primarily based on affiliation (friendship and neighborhood teams) and expression. Nonetheless, the urgency of erasing the NYPD’s Prison Group Database (aka Gang Database) has by no means been higher than the current second,” Professor of Regulation Babe Howell stated. “As the racialized assault on expression and association have escalated, the NYPD’s inaccurate, secret database based on lawful activity must be eliminated.”
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny additionally spoke out earlier this month in assist of the database and the help, he says it, supplies cops with combating gun violence.
“We utilize this information to prevent violence. We use it to predict where retaliation will take place. You know, it’s a very strict criteria to be added to this database,” Kenny stated. “We just don’t add people for the sake of adding them. They have to meet a certain criteria, but we use it as an investigative tool.”
