NEW YORK
Cops retreat on arrest policy
By G.
Dunkel
New York
The New York City Police Department has decided to cut its
losses. On July 13, it openly rescinded a policy that had kept
people who were arrested for minor offenses at political
demonstrations in jail overnight and sometimes for up to 36
hours. Over 1,000 people lost a day of their lives over the
past two years because of this policy.
The decision was announced the day after New York City and
the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the association
representing the cops, settled Abner Louima's suit for $8.4
million. Four years ago cops tortured Louima in a precinct
house with a broken broomstick so badly that he had to spend
three months in a hospital. The PBA agreed to pay $1,625,000 of
the award for its role in organizing the cover-up.
The cops had put their "preventive detention" rule into
effect after a special "street crimes" unit shot an unarmed
African immigrant, Amadou Diallo, 41 times while he was just
standing in the entrance to his apartment building. This
outrage so infuriated the people of New York that thousands
chained themselves to the doors of police headquarters
demanding a real investigation instead of the usual cover-up.
The cops wanted to slow down the protesters and make it harder
to bring people out to demonstrations that were a real
challenge to their authority.
Preventive detention actually went into effect in the spring
of 1999, but wasn't written down until May 1 of this year. The
issue of whether or not the cops deliberately picked May Day,
with its historical and political significance, to do so does
not seem to have been raised in a suit filed by the New York
Civil Liberties Union.
The NYCLU had been well aware that the policy was in effect,
but held off suing until it was in writing. Christopher Dunn,
the NYCLU attorney handling the case, said, "We believe this
[policy] was designed to deter people from participating in
demonstrations and to punish people who participated in
demonstrations. Anyone else who got arrested for a minor
offense in New York City was eligible for a desk appearance
ticket. It clearly violated the First Amendment rights of New
Yorkers."
The cops settled because the political climate in New York
is currently running against them and they would probably lose
the suit. This way, since they only rescinded a policy, they
are free to re-impose it.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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