How We Can Minimize Excessive Police Force by Malcolm Smith
How We Can Minimize Excessive Police Force
June 13th, 2008
In the aftermath of the 2006 shooting death of an unarmed Queens youth, Sean Bell, and his two friends who were seriously injured in a hail of 50 police bullets, a group of elected officials formed the New York State Tri-Level Legislative Task Force and set out to find answers as to why incidents of excessive force at the hands of police continue to occur.
Facing public outcry and anger immediately following the shooting, we sought to gauge public input while examining the root causes of excessive police force and presented our findings in a comprehensive report, Improving Public Confidence in Law Enforcement and Our Criminal Justice System. After more than a year of speaking with advocates for change, victims of excessive force, and elected officials at the city, state and federal levels of government, we found that a necessary trust between police and the public has waned.
Without a plan of action, this public distrust of police will only make their jobs more difficult, and public safety will continue to be threatened. The report spearheaded by the state Tri-Level Legislative Task Force will work to restore the public's faith in police and help them better perform their duties.
We live in a dynamic state. Somewhere along the way, we grew into a hub of multiculturalism. As our communities grew more diverse and compact, the rift between our communities and police widened. Unfamiliar and out of step, these communities lost trust in police as police in turn acted on the crimes and violence committed by a few and mistook them in some instances for the norm. This condition goes both ways.
Since the police shootings of other unarmed civilians such as Eleanor Bumpers in 1984, immigrant Amadou Diallo in 1999 and most recently Sean Bell, action has typically not gone farther than an internal review. The time has come to push for new policies and procedures that assure every measure is taken to minimize the recurrence of excessive force by police.
We spent a year examining and assessing New York City Police Department procedures. We listened to police, victims and those who have led past action against excessive force. The state Tri-Level Legislative Task Force took these testimonies and recommendations to formulate a grassroots community strategy to change our system of policing and criminal justice.
These community discussions led to a number of initiatives to improve police accountability, oversight and education to ensure these shootings will end. Put simply, we want to assure that police officers can perform their duties to the fullest and find ways to reduce hostilities between them and the communities they protect.
We are asking that police officers who have discharged their weapons in the course of duty to not only be tested for alcohol, but drugs as well. Interrogations should be recorded, both in audio and video to help prove or deny abuse claims against police. We must provide financial and technical assistance to municipalities to bolster diversity in police hiring practices and sensitivity training for officers in the field. Additional Task Force proposals include oversight and investigation into such shootings under the auspices of the state attorney general and state police.
The report recommends that the state attorney general investigate and prosecute alleged criminal offenses committed by police, and for state police to take jurisdiction over any crime scene where allegations of police abuses or neglect are suspected.
These legislative and administrative recommendations are key to mending the public's distrust of police and in turn will foster in an age of responsible, safe, reliable and effective policing by our men and women in uniform. A total of seven of 15 recommendations, have been deemed a high priority to begin repairing police practices and procedures and rebuild trust between police and those they serve.
Failing to learn from the lessons of Bumpers, Diallo and Bell, will only perpetuate a lack of trust between police and civilians. Without these additional oversights and educational measures, we are sending our police out to protect and serve a public that fears and suspects them, which only exacerbates the cycle.
Malcolm Smith, a Democrat representing Queens, is the leader of the New York State Senate Democratic Conference.
Facing public outcry and anger immediately following the shooting, we sought to gauge public input while examining the root causes of excessive police force and presented our findings in a comprehensive report, Improving Public Confidence in Law Enforcement and Our Criminal Justice System. After more than a year of speaking with advocates for change, victims of excessive force, and elected officials at the city, state and federal levels of government, we found that a necessary trust between police and the public has waned.
Without a plan of action, this public distrust of police will only make their jobs more difficult, and public safety will continue to be threatened. The report spearheaded by the state Tri-Level Legislative Task Force will work to restore the public's faith in police and help them better perform their duties.
We live in a dynamic state. Somewhere along the way, we grew into a hub of multiculturalism. As our communities grew more diverse and compact, the rift between our communities and police widened. Unfamiliar and out of step, these communities lost trust in police as police in turn acted on the crimes and violence committed by a few and mistook them in some instances for the norm. This condition goes both ways.
Since the police shootings of other unarmed civilians such as Eleanor Bumpers in 1984, immigrant Amadou Diallo in 1999 and most recently Sean Bell, action has typically not gone farther than an internal review. The time has come to push for new policies and procedures that assure every measure is taken to minimize the recurrence of excessive force by police.
We spent a year examining and assessing New York City Police Department procedures. We listened to police, victims and those who have led past action against excessive force. The state Tri-Level Legislative Task Force took these testimonies and recommendations to formulate a grassroots community strategy to change our system of policing and criminal justice.
These community discussions led to a number of initiatives to improve police accountability, oversight and education to ensure these shootings will end. Put simply, we want to assure that police officers can perform their duties to the fullest and find ways to reduce hostilities between them and the communities they protect.
We are asking that police officers who have discharged their weapons in the course of duty to not only be tested for alcohol, but drugs as well. Interrogations should be recorded, both in audio and video to help prove or deny abuse claims against police. We must provide financial and technical assistance to municipalities to bolster diversity in police hiring practices and sensitivity training for officers in the field. Additional Task Force proposals include oversight and investigation into such shootings under the auspices of the state attorney general and state police.
The report recommends that the state attorney general investigate and prosecute alleged criminal offenses committed by police, and for state police to take jurisdiction over any crime scene where allegations of police abuses or neglect are suspected.
These legislative and administrative recommendations are key to mending the public's distrust of police and in turn will foster in an age of responsible, safe, reliable and effective policing by our men and women in uniform. A total of seven of 15 recommendations, have been deemed a high priority to begin repairing police practices and procedures and rebuild trust between police and those they serve.
Failing to learn from the lessons of Bumpers, Diallo and Bell, will only perpetuate a lack of trust between police and civilians. Without these additional oversights and educational measures, we are sending our police out to protect and serve a public that fears and suspects them, which only exacerbates the cycle.
Malcolm Smith, a Democrat representing Queens, is the leader of the New York State Senate Democratic Conference.
