Everyday, public defenders witness the dangerous lack of accountability for police. I think often about the officer I crossed examined who laughed when I asked him how many times he had been sued, how much the settlements were. His response: “I have no idea. City pays for me.”
https://twitter.com/JustAnotherPD/status/1314412957183479824
Everyday, public defenders witness the dangerous lack of accountability for police. I think about the officer found incredible by one judge who I then saw weeks later waiting to have another judge sign a warrant sworn by him to search someone's home. nytimes.com/2019/09/25/opi…
Everyday, public defenders witness the dangerous lack of accountability for police. I think about the team of officers in Brooklyn my colleague and I discovered were planting guns on middle age black men to get awards and promotions:nytimes.com/2014/12/12/nyr…
When I think of policing, I think about distrust. The big lies like the 43 y/o latino man I represented they claimed tried to run them over with his car. Charged w/ a violent felony that could have jailed him 15 years if we didn’t get video.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
As a public defender, when I think of policing, I think of:
Trauma and emotional violence: The young 19 y/o boy in court, literal tears in his eyes, scared to go to his corner store to pick up a sandwich for fear of being harassed by those same police again, stopped and frisked.
Trauma and emotional violence: The young 19 y/o boy in court, literal tears in his eyes, scared to go to his corner store to pick up a sandwich for fear of being harassed by those same police again, stopped and frisked.
As a public defender, when I think of policing, I think of:
Physical violence: Black eyes, scratch marks, broken bones, ripped clothes, and bruises. And the lies officers told to justify their excessive force. Public defenders' phones are filled w/ these kinds of photos.
Physical violence: Black eyes, scratch marks, broken bones, ripped clothes, and bruises. And the lies officers told to justify their excessive force. Public defenders' phones are filled w/ these kinds of photos.
As a public defender, when I think of policing, I think of:
The exacerbation of public health issues. About every one of the thousands of people I met arrested for drug possession, jumping the turnstile, trespass, petty theft who could have been helped not hurt.
The exacerbation of public health issues. About every one of the thousands of people I met arrested for drug possession, jumping the turnstile, trespass, petty theft who could have been helped not hurt.
As a public defender, when I think of policing, I think of: How ineffective they are in stemming violence & solving crime. How people I represented -- in fact the vast majority-- who are crime survivors themselves & would never call the police because they have no trust in them.
As a public defender, I think about the $635 million in just overtime for NYPD officers that could instead house every single one of the 14k homeless families in NYC. And pay a year’s rent for 7k families at risk of eviction because of the pandemic.
As a public defender, I think about the $300 million to settle NYPD lawsuits over the last five years. How it could instead fund proven non-police violence interruption programs and summer youth employment in every neighborhood in NYC for the next 5 years.
As a public defender, I think about how 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.
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