“Foremost, I want to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the Bell family. Since this tragedy first occurred, I have had the opportunity to come to know Sean’s family, especially his parents, William and Valerie Bell. Through the prayer vigils and peaceful marches in Southeast Queens, I have come to admire this family, which has shown so much grace and dignity in the face of enormous pressure and grief.
Through their actions, they have truly taught each of us a lesson about our own humanity. Our community must continue to support this family and support their efforts to keep Sean’s memory alive. Let us remember that this story began with a young man intent on marrying the love of his life and mother of his children. It is that example most of all that we should celebrate.
“Last week’s verdict should be bitterly disappointing to every New Yorker of goodwill. Justice Arthur Cooperman’s decision clearly points the finger at the lackluster case presented by the Queens District Attorney’s office and it is an indictment of New York City Police Department procedure, with respect to training and management.
“In the aftermath of this verdict, our city must endeavor to do better. We must insure that law enforcement training and management procedures are consistently reviewed and enforced. We must do a better job of improving police-community relations and address the mentality of confrontation and criminalization that exists among some of our police officers.
We must do a better job of recruiting the best, educated law enforcement talent and that will require better salaries. It is an unequivocal truth that there are fundamental problems in our police department in which there are sub-cultures that foster disrespect and contempt for the people that these officers are pledged to protect and serve. A cowboy mentality that often gets buried under the belief that says crime is down.
“My community is one that has long supported law and order. We appreciate the efforts of the NYPD to rid our neighborhoods of crime and guns. However, those efforts have unfortunately taken a back seat to enforcement tactics that emphasize disrespect and intimidation. The deterioration of community-police relations has been ongoing for some time. In 2005, an NYPD officer was shot in the leg during a struggle with a suspect in Laurelton Park. In the ensuing efforts to capture that suspect, the police arrested over 180 black men in my community, many who did not fit the description of the suspect.
“Many of my constituents feel that this ongoing climate of disrespect and intimidation has severely fractured the relationship between the community and the police department. It has left many of them fearful that their sons, brothers and fathers may become the next Sean Bell.
“Dr. Martin Luther King so ably put into words the depth of the problems we face over 40 years after he delivered the landmark speech, “Where Do We Go from Here?” Dr. King talked about the need for institutional change and a call to conscience where all people of goodwill needed to exercise divine dissatisfaction with the status quo of the nation’s problems. He spoke of the inherent futility of violence in the struggle for justice - and this weekend’s reaction to Justice Cooperman’s verdict has clearly indicated that our community has heeded such wise advice, despite the pandering of many media members to the contrary.
“Dr. King says in this speech that the road ahead will not be smooth; that there would be rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment. I know that many of us knew exactly what he meant last Friday morning. And it is in those moments that we must, as Dr. King noted, hold tightly to an audacious faith in the future and continue our charted course. We must raise our voices and demand, not ask, for change.
“And this change in our city must begin with Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly. While they have been honorable in their words regarding this case, there has also been a clear inability or desire by this administration to address these problems. In the aftermath of this verdict, if they fail to act, then the legacy of this administration will not be that they were able to continue the decline in crime which began in the Giuliani administration, but rather that they refused to address the underlying problems in the NYPD which the Giuliani administration legitimized. Moreover, this fact is clearly borne out by the continuation of a reckless stop-and-frisk policy, as well as the ongoing erosion of the NYPD because our government has been playing fiscal roulette with salaries and training.
“In the end, all New Yorkers bear the burden of ensuring that justice ultimately is delivered and change occurs. We must demand that federal authorities bring a civil rights prosecution of these officers and to begin an investigation into the NYPD’s training procedures and culture. We must demand that any future federal funding of the NYPD be conditional upon the caveat that the NYPD implement serious reform to its civilian review process and the improvement of their internal accountability system.
“In the face of this horrible tragedy, it is incumbent upon all of us to insure that such a thing never happens again. I am outraged about the circumstances of Sean Bell’s death but my outrage is tempered by faith and hope in the better nature of our humanity. I refuse to despair that we cannot be a better community and city. Today’s verdict is certainly not the end to this matter. The only thing that remains before us is whether we are willing to work hard enough and risk enough to make the changes so that Sean Bell’s death will not have been in vain. We must go beyond demanding justice and seek to implement real change. As a city, we owe that to Sean Bell and his family.”
Leroy Comrie is the Deputy Majority Leader of the New York City Council and represents the 27th Council District in Queens.
