Q&A
Samah Sisay emphasizes discipline and accountability in NYPD reforms
0:42:01
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171 sec
Samah Sisay, an attorney from the Center for Constitutional Rights, responds to Council Member Salaam's question about NYPD reforms needed for constitutional compliance. She emphasizes the importance of discipline and accountability in achieving meaningful change.
- Sisay highlights a recent report on the lack of transparency in Community Response Teams
- She stresses that discipline and accountability are crucial for shifting police culture
- Sisay discusses issues with specialized police units and their engagement in unconstitutional stops
- She suggests reevaluating the necessity and practices of these specialized units
Samah Sisay
0:42:01
you for the question, chair Salam, and I can start.
0:42:03
And I just wanted to quickly add to to to, about the CRT, just to note that the OIG recently released a report about the community response teams and the lack of transparency within the unit.
0:42:15
So just to say that that that report exists, about needing more transparency about how they engage.
0:42:21
I think the question about how and this monitorship is a big one, but I think maybe I can answer more so, like, how the NYPD can actually work towards, being in constitutional compliance.
0:42:32
I you know, The Monitor, like I said, released this report around discipline, and I think discipline is a huge and accountability accountability, like many people have said on this panel is a huge step towards compliance.
0:42:45
Right?
0:42:46
I think officers, supervisors, police commissioners need to take this seriously in order to shift culture.
0:42:55
Training is important.
0:42:57
You know, having officers report on stops is important.
0:43:00
But unless there's a real showing that there is consequence for not policing in a constitutional manner, for humiliating, harassing, racially profiling New Yorkers, we're not going to get anywhere.
0:43:15
So I think that is a huge, huge step.
0:43:18
And within that report that was released by the monitor, there's 55 recommendations about ways to change the, New York City discipline process, specifically related to stop and frisk, for there to be more transparency and accountability.
Carmen N. De La Rosa
0:43:33
So
Samah Sisay
0:43:33
I think that is a huge step, and we'll see what happens, what the court will do because the hope is that there will be some recommendations ordered of the NYPD, in regards to discipline relating to stop, question, and frisk.
0:43:45
I think another issue is, you know, I I try to talk a lot about these specialized units, and we're seeing that these specialized units are the ones that are engaging according to the monitor, the federal monitor, in a lot of these unconstitutional, stops.
0:43:59
And they're supposed to be highly trained, highly supervised.
0:44:02
However, when, you know, you look at the data, you're seeing that they're engaged in more unconstitutional behavior than, other officers.
0:44:11
Right?
0:44:11
And so I think the use of these units, the revamping of these units, we have the street kind unit.
0:44:16
They were plain clothes.
0:44:17
They were disband.
0:44:18
We had another iteration.
0:44:19
That was disband.
0:44:20
And now we have NST, CRT, PST.
0:44:23
Right?
0:44:24
And the entire purpose is for them to be doing precision investigative work, but what we're seeing is they're actually, racially profiling folks.
0:44:32
And so I think really looking at these units and deciding, do we need them?
0:44:35
How are they being trained?
0:44:36
Are officers who are actually engaged in unconstitutional behavior being rewarded and put on these units, in order to target, New Yorkers?
0:44:45
I think those are questions that really need to be asked about how these units are being ran, and what behavior they're engaging in.
