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YOUR TAX-EXEMPT GIFTS WILL HELP US CONTINUE OUR CRITICAL WORK AIMED AT EXPOSING AND ENDING RACIST NYPD TACTICS.
Dear Friends:
PROP has continued its intense focus on court monitoring during the first months of 2024 while tending to organizational concerns like rebuilding our website. Here's more information about these matters:
COURT MONITORING -- In the first 3 months of 2024, PROPers observed 385 cases in the arraignment parts in the criminal courts of our city's 5 boroughs. Courtesy of our intern Ritaj Abbasi, for the first time in years, PROP has been able to cover Staten Island. In fact, 106 of the 385 cases witnessed, 27.5%, took place in Staten Island.
Of the 385 cases that we observed, 349, 90.6%, involved NYers of color, further proof of the continuing stark racial bias of the NYPD's arrest practices, further proof of how our city's police department harms people everyday. Important to note is that even in the aforementioned Staten Island where about 40% of the residents are non-white, nearly 75% of the cases involved people of color.
PRETEXTUAL STOPS -- Suspended license is a common charge that PROPers see when court monitoring these days. It reflects the NYPD’s everyday practice of targeting NYers of color via the use of pretextual stops. Here's the official definition: "Stops initiated by law enforcement for a minor traffic violation, with the actual purpose of investigating or searching for evidence of another unrelated crime."
PROP representatives have talked with some defendants in these cases. Here are examples of the reasons why they were stopped:
** A Latino man who was driving a scooter who cops stopped because he wasn't wearing goggles.
** A young black man -- cops pulled him over saying he ran a stop sign. He told us that he hadn't actually done so.
** A young Black woman who was parking a car at 3 in the morning when cops approached her because the car had a broken taillight. When we asked her did the car actually have a broken taillight, she said that she didn't know, that it was her friend's car.
Other responses given by arrested people, NYers of color in all cases, included: The cops wouldn't say; it was at a checkpoint; for tinted windows; for turning without signaling it; for an exhaust that was too loud; for improper double parking.
The hard truth is that most or all the stops are pretextual in their purpose. In a form of stop 'n frisk while driving, police pull NYers of color over often for bogus reasons &, under pressure to meet their quotas, seek a rationale to make an arrest. It violates people's rights; it's stupid as a crime-fighting tactic; it's racist; and it should stop.
PROP'S NEW WEBSITE -- Thanks to the dedicated efforts of PROP intern Navarre Frede, our new website is now live, with descriptions of all our work easily accessible. The website offers years of PROP reporting on police abuse, over 10 videos documenting unjust police practices, public statements on critical policing issues, and news articles featuring or written by PROP representatives. PROP's work has never been more available to the public, so please take a couple of minutes to check out all the information the website offers.
Please feel free to be in touch with us with your questions &/or comments about PROP's court monitoring or our website or about the NYPD's tactical use of pretextual stops.
As always, many thanks for your interest & support.
Onward,
Bob & Michaela
Bob Gangi,
PROP Director
917-327-7648
rpagangi@gmail.com
Michaela Bapis,
PROP Project Coordinator
michaelabapis@gmail.com
The Police Reform Organizing Project
168 West 86th Street, 4B
NYC, NY 10024
917-327-7648-c
rpagangi@gmail.com
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