Friends,
We have all felt the recent tension across our city, from protests of policing practices to the tragic assassinations of two NYPD officers. We only survive and prosper as Brooklynites if we engage with one another in a calm and civil conversation - and I invite you to come let your voice be heard at a town hall about improving police-community relations this Sunday, February 8th in the 3rd Floor Ballroom of Union Temple, located at 17 Eastern Parkway, starting at 3:00 PM.
I will be joined by Norman Siegel, former director of the New York Civil Liberties Union for this, the latest in a series of conversations we will have to bridge the divide between police and the communities they serve; we previously hosted a town hall at Brooklyn Borough Hall and digital dialogues with students from across Brooklyn, with plans to organize more in the weeks to come.
With your help and participation, these conversations will inform a list of recommendations to advance public safety as well as police and criminal justice reforms.
Eric
The town hall meeting hosted by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on 'improving relations between community and police' couldn't be more timely after Thursday's event at the F/G subway station at Bergen Street in Boerum Hill.
About a dozen local residents were slapped with a $100 fine by NYPD on their way to Manhattan during rush hour yesterday morning for jumping over the turnstile because the fare gates were inoperable and long lines of commuters had formed at the station.
The issue of the broken turnstile had been reported to MTA the day before. Instead of helping to direct traffic, the police officers preyed on the commuters who jumped over the turnstile after several unsuccessful attempts to swipe their card.
As one of the individuals ticketed wrote:
"I can assure you that I DID stand in line like everyone else and also tried swiping my card numerous times to no avail. I am a law abiding citizens who respects the rules in place, but I think the onus is on the city to maintain the turnstiles, especially since the MTA was notified yesterday of the issue. I do not think that I'm better than anyone else. And as a side note, I paid $112 for a monthly metro card, so my ride was paid for."
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4 comments:
There is more then One entrance to the station . There is also another Station for the F train located 5 blocks away on President street . I see no reason for people to feel they shouldn't get a ticket for breaking the Law . Yea you pre paid for a card but if its not swiped then guess what ... you didn't pay for jumping that turnstile and deserve a ticket. We have Laws follow them . You being inconvenienced is not a free pass to break the law!!!!!!
Here Here Vittorio - But I think you typed in the wrong Blog Post.
Katia - when did you decide to remove "remarks from our readers" for good? I used to love that section. It also made it worth while to review older posts and re-ignite discussion.
Hi C.G., do you mean the 'recent comments' function on the right hand side? You are the second person to comment about that. It was a third party blog function, which stopped working at one point, but I will try to re-install if readers liked it.
A story that ran this week that should be part of this discussion:
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NYPD Has a Plan to Magically Turn Anyone It Wants Into a Felon
On Wednesday, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton urged state legislators to consider increasing the penalty for resisting arrest from a misdemeanor to a felony. The change, he argued, would help New Yorkers "get around this idea that you can resist arrest. You can't." It would also give cops an easy way to turn victims of their own worst impulses into the worst class of criminal.
In theory, a resisting arrest charge allows the state to further punish suspects who endanger the safety of police officers as they're being apprehended; in practice, it gives tautological justification to cops who enjoy roughing people up. Why did you use force against that suspect, officer? Because she was resisting arrest. How do I know you're telling the truth? Because I charged her with it, sir.
http://justice.gawker.com/nypd-has-a-plan-to-magically-turn-anyone-it-wants-into-1684017767?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
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