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Meet Rosetta Cochran. A 51 y/o mother of 7. Falsely arrested for crack sale in her home. Swept up in drug bust. Took 2.5 yrs to clear her name. Case dismissed. She even won a settlement. But the NYC Housing Authority *still evicted her.* The arrest was enough. “I could just cry.” 
This story is so outrageous. But all-too-common. Arrests alone, even when dismissed & sealed, *even when admittedly false,* can have lifelong devastating consequences. Can lead to more arrests. And as in Ms. Cochran’s case, can lead to loss of home. gothamist.com/2019/06/05/sea…
“Every year, NYPD arrests or issues criminal summonses to hundreds of thousands of people, vast majority people of color. Most are for misdemeanors or criminal violations, and a high proportion of them involve marijuana possession. These encounters all create records.”
Surveillance State: “Those records contain: arrest charges, location of arrests, fingerprints, photographs, detailed physical descriptions, Social Security numbers, date/place of birth, residence & contact info, occupation, known associates & family members & their contact info.”
Now, once an arrest ends in dismissal or acquittal, it is sealed. At least under NY law, that outcome was supposed to be clear: “No individual should suffer adverse consequences merely on the basis of an accusation, unless the charges were ultimately sustained in a court of law.”
But NYPD doesn’t care about the law. “In practice, the NYPD interprets the law very differently.” According to them, police “can freely use sealed records internally, for investigations, without consulting a judge.” Between 2014-2016, 400k sealed arrests are in NYPD databases.
A photo from a sealed arrest is what ultimately lead the NYPD to falsely arrest Rosetta Cochran. And that false arrest, though ultimately sealed, is what lead to her eviction. The Housing Authority “has its own court system, with a lower burden of proof than criminal courts.”
“Cochran has lived in the Sterling Place Rehabs since the 1980s. ‘It was a great place to raise children. I could watch my kids from the window any time they wanted to play. They were safe.’” Though evicted, she’s still there w/ 2 of her kids while lawyers from my office appeal.
“Every day I think about getting put out. I'll be scared when I see a number from my lawyer calling me. I pray that it’s not NYCHA saying I’ve got to pack up and leave.”
If you’re moved & want to do something, support the marijuana legalization bill in NY. Would go even farther than sealing prior marijuana arrest records and expunge them. Visit here (👇) for more on how to get involved. This could happen this month: smart-ny.com
