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My Police Reform Agenda

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Those are the words that are etched into our memory, echoing the sentiment of our founding fathers towards the directive they were embarking on to create a nation free from tyranny. Those rights, restricted by servility towards the English Crown, moved a colony to form a nascent country that abided by these ideals.

Those ideals would form the bedrock of what we tell ourselves and others of what America is and means. We often repeat, ad nauseam, that by sacrifice and hard work, that every citizen — irrespective of race, color, sex, or creed — can reach the highest ideals of Americanism.

That is false.

Our history has been defined by the subjugation of black people. The original sin (stain) of slavery has never been reckoned with. We see it every day. We see it in the objectification of black people characterized as mindless bodies to be used for labor and sacrifice. We see it when our fellow citizens go through extraordinary lengths to avoid passing us on the same sidewalk for fear of their safety. We see it when a man is held down by a knee on his neck, gasping for air, crying out for his mother, no one coming to his aide, his eyes slowly closing as he takes his last breaths in this life.

The history of America has weighed on black Americans with blunt force trauma, that even the slightest flicker of hope, is often ignored and discarded as false vows towards a better future. These actions are often validated by the majority, thus solidifying the pain and frustration that we will never forge a path of true independence.

Those emotions of hopelessness, of specious promises from politicians - from both parties, have led to an eruption of anger and restlessness that have crowded towns and cities across America with a simple message: Enough is enough.

And that message must be heeded.

We can start with police reform. The time is now to implement the policy reforms that are needed to move forward to re-establish trust between our law enforcement officials and our communities.

In New York, we have had a long history of incidents between our police and communities of color that have exacerbated the relationship to the point of malignant mistrust. These reforms, if implemented at the city and state level, can engender a pathway forward that not only heals us but leads to safer streets with greater cooperation from communities that police are there to serve.

The following is no means an exhaustive list, but it’s a start for how we can proceed:

· Repeal Law 50-a (making disciplinary records of NYPD public) and establish a statewide database of police misconduct complaints against officers. This section within the New York Civil Rights Law has been used as a cudgel against citizens who have sought personnel records of police officers and their possible history of misconduct. (Since passed by New York state)

· Establish a statewide and citywide database on average response times for crimes in legislative districts. Often, when elected officials have called upon police reforms, we’ve seen response times suffer in distinct legislative districts due to retaliation. This must be tracked, and police precincts who practice these methods will have to be held accountable.

· Require individual officers to pay for liability insurance. In FY 2018, 14,094 claims and lawsuits against New York City were resolved for $1.0 billion. That’s $1 billion of taxpayer funds that are being stripped away from essential services like education and public health — exhausting the racial inequality in our city — and instead used to pay for malfeasance. Liability insurance premiums and claims can be split by the city and officer, who likely will not have the resources to pay for claims, and leaving injured families unable to collect.

· Strip the New York Police Department of its authority to issue press credentials and transfer the authority to the Mayor’s office.

· Elevate false emergency calls to hate crimes with excessive fines if the perpetrator is found to have factored racial or sexual-orientation bias in calling the police against another citizen.

· Eliminate tear gas from our police’s arsenal. Tear gas is not safe and can cause long-term respiratory issues that make it easier for humans to contract illnesses like COVID-19. Additionally, tear gas is banned in international warfare, but allowed for domestic “riot control” uses. How does that make sense?

· On the federal level, remove qualified immunity. That statute has protected officers from liability in impeding an individual’s constitutional rights. In one case, officers were found immune to liability when they attempted to steal $225,000 when executing a search warrant.

· Establish policies that require tamper-proof recordings of all police/civilian interactions, via body cams, that are available to the public. Body cam programs should include regulations that they aren’t used to surveil marginalized communities.

· Increase the hiring of mental health professionals that ride-along with police addressing health checks. Often, those calls have a violent conclusion because officers are ill-equipped in dealing with citizens with mental health issues. The average officer receives only 8 hours of de-escalation training while receiving 58 hours of firearm training. More training is needed in this field while increasing the number of mental health professionals embedded with police officers.

This list of priorities is where we can start. With a little bit of courage and tenacity, we can implement policies that “bend the arc of the moral universe more towards justice” than we have before. Moreover, our law enforcement officers must hear from us that we appreciate them and need them. They are an indispensable cog in communities across our country, and when police officers carry out their mission of serving and protecting the citizenry, they display the courage and idolization that is often bestowed upon them for their acts of bravery that have saved so many.

We must also acknowledge that our police officers are often called upon to witness some of the worst incidents that humanity has to offer. Those incidents — whether it be child abuse, rape, and murders — affect the mental well-being of our officers. Witnessing those circumstances can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, and reaching out for assistance to cope with these issues has not been successful.

In New York City, the rate of suicides among NYPD officers is higher than for other residents of our city. And, according to some studies, as many as 34 percent of our officers suffer from symptoms reminiscent of PTSD. PTSD has severe adverse effects that can alter a person’s behavior and well-being. Now imagine the consequences of not addressing those issues when law enforcement officials interact with civilians in a high-stress situation. The result could lead to a fatal event.

To offer support for our law enforcement officials, we need to implement the following:

· Mandatory Mental Health Check-Ups. Our city has to fund programs that make it mandatory for our police officers to receive help on a schedule designated by their commanding officer to seek assistance from mental health professionals.

· Substance abuse counseling. Many of our officers have sought substances to cope with the daily rigors of the role they serve. We must get rid of the stigma from within their ranks that question their toughness by seeking help when experiencing a traumatic event on the job.

· Higher base-pay and establishing a bonus structure for good policing. These are dangerous jobs, and we want to welcome the best and brightest to serve within NYPD’s ranks. We should restructure the salary to include higher wages and a performance-based bonus structure for good policing.

Our city and country are on the cusp of implementing real change to improve the conditions in which we live. Racial equity and justice are not going to solved by effecting these policies, but if we do, we can move forward in addressing the other systems of inequities that have long permeated within our city. Systems that are often addressed as individual silos, well aware that they’re not mutually exclusive or divorced from improvements needed in our education system, or having economic opportunity, but this is where we can begin.

Denny Salas is a 2021 NYC City Council candidate for District 1 in Manhattan.

#PoliceReform Agenda NYC CityCouncil

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