The commissioner of the New York City police department views the controversial practice of stop, question and frisk as a means to instil fear in young African American and Latino men, a New York state senator testified in a federal court on Monday.
State senator Eric Adams, who retired from the NYPD after rising to the rank of captain during a 22-year career, said commissioner Ray Kelly described his views on stop and frisk during a July 2010 meeting in the office of then-governor David Patterson.
Adams had traveled to Albany for a meeting on 10 July 2010 with the governor to give his support for a bill that would prohibit the NYPD from maintaining a database that would include the personal information of individuals stopped by the police but released without a charge or summons. In discussing the bill, which ultimately passed, Adams said he raised the issue of police stops disproportionately targeting young African American and Latino men.
"[Kelly] stated that he targeted and focused on that group because he wanted to instil fear in them that every time that they left their homes they could be targeted by police," Adams testified.
"How else would we get rid of guns," Adams said Kelly asked him.
Adams told the court he was stunned by the commissioner's claim and immediately expressed his concerns. "I was amazed," Adams testified. "I told him that was illegal."
The state senator's testimony marked the latest in a series of explosive allegations leveled against the NYPD in an ongoing trial targeting the department's stop-and-frisk practices.
In earlier hearings, two serving NYPD officers testified that the department maintains a rigid quota system to ensure officers make a certain number of stops, arrests and summons. Both men secretly recorded roll-call meetings and conversations with supervisors which purport to show the existence of such a system.
Under the joint tenure of Kelly and mayor Michael Bloomberg, the NYPD has stopped and, in some cases searched, approximately 4.4 million people, most of them Latino or African American.
By law, police officers are empowered to stop individuals on the street if they have reasonable suspicion that an individual is preparing to, is in the process of, or has just committed a crime.
According to Adams, under these conditions, stop and frisk is a "great tool" for suppressing and responding to crime. He added, however, that "nowhere" in the law is an officer empowered to "use the tool to instil fear. Nowhere".
New York City has quite literally become Pretoria on the Hudson under Bloomberg's Reign of Error.
And Bloomberg and Kelly are two of the most despicable people on the planet.
Why doesn't Bloomberg get the racist rap Giuliani has?
Using the Stop-and-Frisk program to simply instill fear in every young black and Latino male in NYC is clearly unconstitutional, or at least it would be if we had, you know, a Constitution.
But it's been shredded by the powers that be so that Michael Bloomberg can now run NYC like a dictator.
I often read your Blog-find it to be the best of the stuff on the right side of Norm's Ednotes.com Was wondering what you foresee as the legacy that Bloomberg will leave behind once he is finally out of office .Will it all one day come out just how crafty he was?? BTW, I too find him to be despicable!!-Thanks
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. Take a look at my latest piece contrasting the Smith/Halloran arrests on bribery, fraud and election rigging to the criminal activity Bloomberg has engaged in with the Independence Party for three mayoral election cycles:
Deletehttp://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2013/04/smith-halloran-arrested-for-pittance.html
I think the arrests of Halloran and Smith for five figure bribes (and remember, this was a sting operation, so it was also, in part, an FBI set-up) while Bloomberg remains free after admitting he laundered money through the Independence Party when he was called to testify during the Haggerty trial is emblematic of how the mayor will be viewed.
Because Mayor4Life has more money than God and is a media mogul, he receives kid glove treatment from the media that no other pol gets. Frankly, I think a lot of these "journalists" are afraid they might have to work for him some day so they go extra easy on him (esp. now that he is rumored to be in the market for the NY Times or the Financial Times.) And other pols are afraid he might use his money and PAC against them.
Unfortunately, unless there is something unforseen that happens, I think Bloomberg will have his own "journalists" write his history for him and that will be his "legacy."
Just came upon your blog today, looking for info on Malcolm Smith.
ReplyDeleteFor those of us not in the NY area, how does someone like Bloomberg keep getting re-elected? And how can we stop his corrupt efforts to manipulate elections all over the US, which he's doing now?
Bloomberg is the second richest man in the country and owns a lot of media. In addition, he is rumored to be in the market for more outlets, including the NY Times and the Financial Times. Journals who used to write for TIME or Newsweek or US News or the Wash Post often end up at Bloomberg News or Bloomberg Views after they have been downsized from their other gigs. But they only get those Bloomberg jobs if they a) have been nice to Herr Mayor and b) they carry Herr Mayor's water on guns, education reform, climate change, business, etc. I believe that Bloomberg has been given a very easy pass by the media in both NYC and the the country primarily because of this. Also, his buddies at the NY Post (Murdoch) and the Daily News (Zuckerman) have gone pretty easy on him too. So he has not gotten the scrutiny for his policies and his performance as he should have. You can see some of what I think about his performance here:
Deletehttp://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2013/04/michael-bloomberg-belongs-in-jail-next.html
Next, I do not know how we protect ourselves as a country from his odious and pernicious influence. You can bet he will use his PAC post-City Hall to maintain power and influence on his favorite issues like gun control, ed reform, etc. He's already stolen one race in Illinois. He has influenced races all across the country. He has tried to buy school board elections. Unfortunately he is allowed to do this ever since the Supreme Court ruled money is speech. Long after he is gone from City Hall, the Little Dictator's influence will continue. Honestly, long after his death the same will happen. He has set his foundations up so that they will have long-term influence a la the Ford Foundation or the Rockefeller Foundation.
It is troubling that an oligarchical criminal like Bloomberg can buy elections with impunity. But that is 21st century America - it's much like the rotten Roman Empire before the collapse.
Thank you for answering my question-I am basically an apolitical person. Never really took an interest in what goes on in the political arenas. Bloomberg opened my eyes to an extremely negative viewpoint. I do believe that he is one hell of an egomaniac.
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