AN IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY DEBI ROSE

STATEMENT BEFORE THE NYC CIVILIAN COMPLAINT REVIEW BOARD PUBLIC HEARING

May 9, 2001

Good evening. My name is Debi Rose. I want to thank the Civilian Complaint Review Board, Chairman Wohl and Staten Island Commissioner Greinsky for this important and much needed opportunity to discuss the state of police and community relations in the City and on Staten Island.

I speak tonight as a community activist and leader on Staten Island for over 25-years, having served on Community Board #1, as an elected member of the Community School board and on various community and civil organizations. I also speak tonight as a mother of a 22-year-old son who has grown up on Staten Island and as a candidate for the 49^th Council District on the North Shore.

Approximately one year ago to the day I testified before the N.Y.C. Council Select Committee on Police Performance and Community Relations. I told that Committee that they would hear “a tale of two Staten Islands”. One that exemplifies the commendable job that the police do in protecting Staten Island and reducing the impact of crime in our communities. The other will speak of the fear, intimidation and distrust of the police in our communities of color. Staten Island is not immune to the issues that have impacted that rest of the City. In 1994 we had the case of Ernest Sayon, killed in an altercation with police on the street, and just in the last two-year we had two incidents of undercover police shootings in the Park Hill community. It is this dichotomy of experience and possible suggestions that I wish to touch on in the short time that I have tonight.

First, we all must realize that the police officers on the NYPD have one of the toughest jobs that we can ask on anyone serving the public good. And we must commend their daily efforts to put their lives at risk to protect us from those who would do harm to our families, our communities and ourselves. We can look to the example of Officer Gerald Carter who gave his life to protect his community. Staten Island, as the rest of the City, has seen a tremendous reduction in crime, especially in communities of color, which are most impacted by crime. However, we must ask what price has been paid in some communities for this success. One can not only see but also feel the anger and hostility in relations between some communities and the police officers that serve them. With this crime reduction success, we now have the opportunity to reexamine aggressive police tactics and policies, including Stop & Frisk and Zero Tolerance.

Recent reports have highlighted disparities in police tactics. In the State Attorney General’s December 1999 Report on “The New York City Police Department’s ‘Stop & Frisk’ Practices”, which examined police records for the period of January 1, 1998 to March 31, 1999, it found that minorities, blacks in particular, were “stopped” at a higher rate than whites, particularly in precincts with a majority population is white. On Staten Island, the report found that for the 120^th police precinct, which has a black population of only 18%, 64% of the NYPD stops were of blacks. In the 122^nd precinct, with a black population of 1.4%, 17.3% of NYPD stops were of blacks. According to published newspaper reports, even the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) study found that NYPD officers failed to file “Stop & Frisk” reports as required. This calls into question the nature and quantity of these police-community interactions that officially are never reported. In addition the Commission on Civil Rights has also found racial disparity in NYPD stops on Staten Island, indicating in a draft report that in 1998 51% of stops on Staten Island were blacks while representing only 9% of the populations. This statistics only quantify what I and other members of the communities of color on Staten Island hear and experience everyday.

Looking at the CCRB’s own March 2001 Status Report for the year January to December 2000 raises some issues about the number and nature of complaints on Staten Island and in the 120^th Precinct on the North Shore in particular. Although the Staten Island Patrol Borough saw a 18% decrease in complaints filed between 1999 and 2000 (from 128 to 105), the 120^th Precinct saw an 14% increase during the same period (from 41 in 1999 to 47 in 2000). In addition, the vast majority of complaints (64%) by location of occurrence on Staten Island are made within the confines of the 120^th Precinct (132 in 2000). This is also highlighted by the 120^th Precinct being number 6 in your Top Ten list of complaints per uniformed personnel by precinct chart.

One thing that your most recent report does not address, and I’m not sure that it can address, is the potential number of complaints not filed because those individuals had no confidence that they claims will be heard, may have been intimidated in filing a complaint and/or just did not know how to file a complaint against an officer. It would be interesting that an analysis be done between the CCRB, the NYPD and the Office of the City Comptroller to determine in what percentage of claims against the City for alleged police misconduct did or did not involve a complaint to the CCRB. It is my guess that people may bypass the CCRB process, because of a lack of confidence in and/or the timeliness of the investigations, and instead they proceed directly with a claim against the City. I would recommend that such an analysis be conducted.

I support several of the recommendations contained in the City Council’s May 1999 “Blueprint for Reform” and those expressed by the coalition of New Yorkers that came together in the wake of the Amadou Diallo and Patrick Dorismond shootings, including:

• stronger support for a truly independent Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) – although the Mayor argues that complaints are down, it does not reflect the lack of confidence that communities have, that their complaints will have a fair and quick resolution;
• support increased funding in FY 2002 to allow the CCRB to implement recommendations of Department of Investigation’s report on missing and mishandled cases;
• support Council Int. No. 911 – a bill to amend the New York City Charter to give the CCRB the authority to prosecute cases – recent effort by Mayor to do this by Executive Order and Memorandum of Understanding are insufficient to institutionalize increase responsibility to CCRB;
• call for increase public/community outreach and education about the CCRB – your March 2001 report states that there were only 111 public presentations in the calendar year 2000. How many of those were on Staten Island? And where? How many have been done before?
• re-establishing a Special Prosecutor for police misconduct – to avoid apparent conflicts between District Attorneys and the Police;
• increase recruitment and promotion of minorities and woman on the force; and
• Increase training and positive community contacts between police and the communities they serve.

Finally, one thing is clear, that a continued lack of faith in and respect for the NYPD and the CCRB in minority communities will hinder cooperation and call into question the effectiveness of any crime reduction strategy, particularly in those communities that needs the protection the most. Without the full support of community, the police cannot be completely successful.