Those abuses produced lasting damage and pain in our communities through the over-criminalization that led to mass incarceration, and continue harm to this day.
There should be no delusion of systemic change at the NYPD under his tenure.
As long as Mayor de Blasio and the new police commissioner continue with discriminatory broken windows policing and failed accountability for officers who abuse and brutalize New Yorkers, the same problems will exist and this administration will have failed to provide systemic change.
Chief James O’Neill’s status as the number two and hand-picked successor of Bratton makes it difficult to believe that he will not simply maintain the problematic state of affairs – real leadership will require a break and true commitment to addressing the NYPD’s systemic problems.
Talk is cheap and our communities are tired – so-called “community policing,” “training” and the rhetoric of “police-community relations” are no solution to the systemic problems with policing in this city and nation.
Our communities want action that ends discriminatory broken windows and other police abuses and that brings real accountability for how officers treat members of our communities.
Anthonine Pierre is spokesperson, Communities United for Police Reform