By Rich Bockmann
Leaders in the Queens communities where stop-and-frisk was most heavily used during the 12 years of the Bloomberg administration said they were encouraged by recent statements made by some of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s top appointments.
Days before de Blasio was sworn in as the city’s 109th mayor, the man who ran on a platform of putting an end to the NYPD’s controversial practices introduced his pick for the city’s top lawyer, Zachary Carter, who said he would drop the legal appeal the Bloomberg administration had filed to prevent a federally appointed monitor from overseeing reforms to the department.
And the day after his inauguration, de Blasio swore in the city’s new police commissioner, Bill Bratton, who pledged to mend the fractured relationship between the NYPD and communities.
Bratton said it was unfortunate that despite record-low crime levels the city has not “really achieved the collaboration that all that success should have brought.”
“We will work hard to identify why is it that so many in this city do not feel good about this department that has done so much to make them safe,” he added. “What has it been about our activities that have made so many feel alienated?”
In August, Manhattan District Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk was unconstitutional and appointed a federal monitor to oversee reforms to the department. The Bloomberg administration filed an appeal, even though the case was unlikely to be settled by the time a the new mayor took over.
The 110th and 115th precincts in western Queens along with the 103rd Precinct in southeast Queens had some of the largest number of police stops across the city.
Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), who represents an area in western Queens that has historically been heavily affected by stop-and-frisk, said he was encouraged by Bratton’s message but happy that several layers of oversight have been added to the department.
“In the years since I was elected we tried to work with the NYPD on issues surrounding stop-and-frisk and the department was unwilling to do so. We had to pass the Community Safety Act,” he said of the controversial legislation the Council approved last year over Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto. “Now they say we’ll work to change it. I thing it’s better to move forward with the oversight.”
And while the de Blasio administration is looking to squash its predecessor’s legal appeal, the city’s police unions are pushing ahead on their own.
Before the new mayor was sworn in, lawyers for the Patrolmen’s Benevolent, Detectives Endowment, Lieutenants Benevolent and Captain’s Endowment associations asked the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to speed up its decision on whether or not they can carry forward the appeal.
The case was decided by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin, who said she had her reservations about overseeing such a high-profile case without a jury.
“It’s not the preferable route,” she said from the bench in late 2012, according to The New York Times, “because whatever the outcome he criticism will be, ‘This is one person.’”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
