Governor Cuomo calls for police reform
The New York City Council seeks to reduce the NYPD ‘footprint’ with a comprehensive bill package. New York City Councilor Joe Borelli and Lieutenant Randy Sutton participate in ‘Fox & Friends First’.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday raised the possibility that a federal monitor could be placed in the New York Police Department (NYPD), as well as challenged candidates vying for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s position during the election. later this year to talk about his police reform proposals.
State Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit last month against the NYPD and its leadership over the treatment of protesters against racial injustice after George Floyd’s death.
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“In New York City, the situation is even worse because the attorney general filed a lawsuit concluding that the city police abused people and the attorney general’s case calls for the installation of a monitor,” Cuomo told a news conference at Sunday, referencing the reform-seeking process, including the appointment of a federal monitor to oversee NYPD policing tactics in future protests.
The suit also seeks a court order declaring that the policies and practices used by the department during the protests were illegal.
Separately, Cuomo was attacked after James released a report last week suggesting that his state health department underreported deaths in nursing homes by coronavirus by up to 50%.
Focusing on the attorney general’s action against the New York police, Cuomo explained that if a monitor is installed, “then let’s go to another stage where it is not really the mayor who is in charge of the police. It is not really the police commissioner. who is in charge of the police. He is a monitor. And the monitor is not elected by anyone, he is appointed by a court according to the attorney general’s case. ”
Cuomo then focused on the New York mayoral election in 2021, challenging aspirants – many of whom are already involved in city politics – to publicize their own police reform plans.
“I am surprised that there is no more talk of this in New York,” said the governor. “You have a mayoral election coming up. There’s a lot to talk about. But how are you not talking about police reform?”
Cuomo addressed directly to Eric Adams, the district president of Brooklyn, who is a former police officer, asking “What’s your idea?” The governor continued: “I mean, Mayor, Adams, he knows the situation very well on many sides. What is your position?”
Cuomo passed it on to Scott Stringer, the city controller “who’s been there all this time,” asking again, “What’s your idea? You want to be mayor. What would you do about it? In concrete terms.”
“Right [now], a few months before an election for mayor, I don’t know what his positions are, I don’t know what his plans are, “said Cuomo.” Once again, I am surprised. In the New York City mayoral election, you have presidents running the controllers. Where have you been, what have you done? Where were you when Rome was burning? “
But Adams’ spokesman Evan Thies told the New York Daily News that Adams “released a comprehensive, widely publicized agenda for reform, including diversifying the department and holding bad officers accountable through historic transparency measures.”
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“We are going to forward Eric’s agenda for police reform to the governor,” he added. Meanwhile, Hazel Crampton-Hays, the press secretary at the controller’s office, told the newspaper that Stringer “would have more to say about this in the coming days”.
The union representing NYPD grassroots officers responded to Cuomo’s remarks about the process, again arguing that the city’s leadership did not give officers a plan while risking their lives during violent demonstrations that broke out in the city over the summer.
“Let’s say it again: what we witnessed in June was a failure of the New York City leadership,” said Patrick J. Lynch, president of the New York Police Benevolent Association, in a statement provided to Fox News on Monday. -market. “They sent police to police unprecedented protests and violent riots with no plan, no strategy and no support. They should be forced to respond to the resulting chaos, instead of pointing the finger at the police on the streets and ignoring the criminals who attacked us. with bricks and incendiary bombs. “
The election for mayor will consist of Democratic and Republican primaries on June 22, 2021, followed by a general election on November 2, 2021. Last week, the City Council, blaming “months of delays in the Blasio administration”, presented a 11- Legislative police reform package page. The measures in the proposal include requiring that the city’s next police commissioner be approved by the City Council, as well as other methods to promote “non-prison” interventions for community security.
“The city council is moving. And for that, I say good to Mayor Corey Johnson, because they have to approve a plan by April 1, it’s 60-something days,” said Cuomo on Sunday. He added that he has no specific opinion on whether the City Council should confirm the police commissioner, but said that politicians need to take steps to deal with the rise in crime, especially in the black and brown communities.
“Everyone is unhappy,” said Cuomo. “I’m going to tell you where you are now, the police are unhappy, the community is unhappy, the activists are unhappy and all New Yorkers are unhappy because the crime is on the rise. And the black community and the poor community and the Brown community, who feels the most disrespected, is fear, is paying the highest price because they are the victims of more crimes. And I think the city, at least, is moving ”.
James, a Democrat, was tasked by Cuomo to investigate whether NYPD officials used excessive force to contain the unrest last spring and enforce Mayor Bill de Blasio’s night curfew. She released a preliminary report in July that cited a “clear breach of trust between the police and the public”.
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The lawsuit filed in federal court on January 14 named Blasio, the city of police, Dermot Shea, and department head Terence Monahan as defendants. James criticized Blasio for saying that using the kettle was justified and Shea for saying that the NYPD “had a plan that was executed almost perfectly” when officials aggressively cracked down protesters on June 4 in the Bronx.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.