There is a billboard now up in the heart of Times Square. Directly across from the NYPD station. With this message: “Hey NYPD. It’s us. NYC residents. The ones who pay your salary. “We paid $300 million to settle your lawsuits. You paid nothing. We need to talk.” Watch:
The $300 million to settle NYPD lawsuits over the last five years could instead fund proven non-police violence interruption programs and summer youth employment in every neighborhood in NYC for the next 5 years.
The $327 million per year that NYC residents pay for police in schools with no impact on public safety, could instead fund full four-year scholarships for over 4000 students to attend NY state colleges.
The $635 million NYC residents pay in just overtime for NYPD officers could instead house every single one of the 14,000 homeless families now living in NYC. And then pay a year’s worth of rent for 7,000 families out of work and at risk of eviction because of the pandemic.
The billboard directs people to Need-To-Talk.com, a simple, yet powerful site that asks people to imagine a better way to prevent violence, support our youth, and remedy homelessness.
Take Action: Visit Times Square, film the billboard, & then share on social media with your take on the issue. Here is detailed information on where to go and what to do. The billboard is up through the end of September. Instructions: Need-To-Talk.com/act

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More from @ScottHech

10 Sep
“He pulled down their pants in public, exposing their genitals. Used his fingers to search for drugs inside their anal cavities. One man was “told to get on all fours while naked” before he was probed.” Lt. McCormack is now the 4th highest ranking in NYPD.propublica.org/article/over-a…
“The man shivered because he said McCormack’s hands were so cold on the man’s testicles. Serrano said he found it especially strange that McCormack was doing this as a deputy inspector, when most commanding officers began to spend more time behind a desk.”
“McCormack is part of an effort to dominate & publicly humiliate Black men, part of a legacy of mistreatment by law enforcement and citizen mobs dating back to Reconstruction. “It’s about power. It’s about the police demonstrating their dominance of the streets.”
Read 12 tweets
30 Aug
“While in prison I was paid 20 cents/hr to help others w/ legal cases. Decades ago I spotted a legal issue that put a lot of people behind bars.” On Calvin Duncan’s 23rd try the Supreme Court took up non-unanimous juries. He won. His fight isn’t over. More:oregonlive.com/opinion/2020/0…
“When I was lying on my bunk in Angola prison, the maximum-security facility in Louisiana, my dream of coming back to Oregon sustained me. I missed the parks, the hiking trails and the friendly people.”
“In 1982, I was 19 years old & learning the welding trade at the Job Corps program at Mt. Hood. I was planning to join the military. But someone called an anonymous tip line in New Orleans, my hometown, & said that a “negro male” w/ my name had committed a murder the prior year.”
Read 15 tweets
21 Aug
Lori Loughlin gets two months in jail.

There’s a man caged in Prince George’s County, MD jail who pled 6 months ago to petty theft & *still hasn’t gotten his sentencing hearing.*

More from people jailed pretrial longer than she’ll serve post-conviction:GaspingForJustice.org
Lori Loughlin sentenced to 2 months.

I represented a man jailed pre-trial for 2 years on Rikers for low level drug sales to support his own drug habit.
I'm not upset Lori Loughlin was sentenced to “only” 2 months. Every moment caged in American prisons is horrific. As always, I'm upset that people who aren't rich, white, & connected (nearly everyone of millions currently caged) aren't treated with the same relative leniency.
Read 10 tweets
20 Aug
“The sun rises over the houses. Abdi, a Somali man in his late 20s, is leaving his home on his way to work. He notices an SUV parked in front of his neighbor’s home.” A thread on your rights when documenting arrests & misconduct by law enforcement:
“When Andrea came outside, two men approached her. It was ICE.”
“If you witness ICE – or any law enforcement agents – making an
arrest in public, it is your right to film the interaction as long as you do not interfere with the arrest.”
Read 23 tweets
17 Aug
Critical read: For those suggesting an answer to police violence is social workers working hand-in-hand w/ them to respond to crises: "The same system responsible for our clients’ trauma, humiliation, & suffering should not take a role in their redemption."slate.com/news-and-polit…
The author, Lori James-Townes, was former head social worker for the Maryland public defense system. "Social workers cant build trust w/ people if we respond to a crisis accompanied by police. Police come armed w/ Tasers, guns, & batons, prepared to deploy violence & punishment."
The need for social workers to respond w/o police is based in trauma. "Many of those I serve are survivors of violence—often inflicted by police. When they call for help during a crisis, police regularly escalate rather than diffuse conflict. They traumatize the people we serve."
Read 7 tweets
17 Aug
Heres the thing about “alternatives to incarceration.” In reality, electronic monitoring, probation, parole, & prosecutor-enforced “treatment” programs are really just *alternate routes to incarceration.* Best case: An additional way to be surveilled. More:
Take Willie White. A Black man from GA. 6 months jailed for possessing marijuana. Pleaded guilty w/ 10 years probation just to see his children. Soon back in. Failure to pay. Then used drugs. “[Probation] took all my money. Kept me incarcerated. It’s really been a lot of pain."
Researchers from @hrw spoke to a Black woman in PA, who cycled through probation & jail, mostly for shoplifting & drug offenses, stemming from a substance use disorder: “I asked for programs, but [probation] didn’t want to hear that I need help. They just gave me time.”
Read 6 tweets

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