Public Advocate Bill de Blasio delivered a wide-ranging speech on policing and the future of public safety at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice this morning, putting forward a strategy for rebuilding police-community relations. In his 25-minute remarks, de Blasio praised the NYPD for historic decreases in crime and its successful counterterrorism efforts, but cited a growing divide between the police and the community that must be bridged to further police effectiveness.
“Further ensuring our city’s public safety requires us to dispel the belief that we must choose between a large, effective police force and a force that works in partnership with the community. This is a false dichotomy. I believe we can and we must do both. This must serve as the foundation for policing as we move towards the future,” said Public Advocate de Blasio in the speech.
During the speech, de Blasio identified specific reforms to help bring community and police together, including:
- Calling on Mayor Bloomberg to bring greater accountability to Stop and Frisk tactics by immediately requiring the NYPD to use COMPSTAT-style reporting that holds precinct commanders responsible for unwarranted stops;
- Calling on the NYPD to significantly improve communications with the Muslim-American community;
- Calling on the City Council to immediately pass his legislation, Intro 166, requiring the CCRB to have an independent budget in order to ensure other CCRB reforms can succeed;
- Calling on the NYPD to follow Governor Cuomo’s lead and explore how the force can expand David Kennedy’s “Ceasefire” crime fighting approach to minimize gang violence in neighborhoods across the city; and
- Calling on the City to hold the line on force levels after cutting the force by 6,000 officers since 2000.
Read the full speech at: http://advocate.nyc.gov/public-safety.
