PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Kimberly Saltz, Law Fellow at Legal Defense Fund, on NYPD's Gang Database and Stop and Frisk Practices
3:31:25
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103 sec
Kimberly Saltz, representing the Legal Defense Fund, testified about the NYPD's gang database and its connection to racially biased policing practices. She argued that the database perpetuates unconstitutional stop and frisk tactics and disproportionately targets Black and Latino youth.
- 99% of people in the NYPD gang database are Black and/or Latino, while less than 1% are white
- Entry into the database is not tied to criminal activity but based on vague criteria like clothing colors or social media use
- Research shows that eliminating gang databases in other cities did not lead to increased crime
- Saltz urged the City Council to pass Intro 798 to abolish the NYPD's gang database
Kimberly Saltz
3:31:25
Hello.
3:31:25
My name is Kimberly Saltz.
3:31:26
I'm a law fellow at the Legal Defense Fund, which is also a member of Communities United For Police Reform.
3:31:30
Thank you for this opportunity to testify.
3:31:33
Today, we wanna bring to the council's attention that the same people targeted through the NYPD's unconstitutional stop and frisk practices are also subjected to the NYPD's racially biased gang policing practices.
3:31:44
The NYPD's criminal group database or gang database labels more than 16,000 city residents as members members of so called street gangs and youth crews.
3:31:53
Under the guise of what it calls precision policing, the NYPD has subjected the people in this database, primarily black and Latino teenagers and young adults, to sustain surveillance and harassment.
3:32:03
The gang database has become a mechanism for continuing the unconstitutional stop and frisk practice of using race as a proxy for crime.
3:32:10
99% of people in the NYPD gang database are black and or Latino, and less than 1% of people in the database are white.
3:32:18
Entry into the gang database is not tied to actual criminal activity.
3:32:21
Instead, the NYPD uses broad, vague, and subjective criteria such as the colors a person wears or their use of undefined symbols on social media to label them as gang members.
3:32:31
Under these criteria, many New Yorkers who have never committed a crime could be designated as gang members.
3:32:37
In our written testimony, we provide research from our Thurgood Marshall Institute that shows that after Portland and Chicago eliminated their gang databases, there was no statistical increase in reported crime.
3:32:48
These findings suggest that gang databases do not reduce crime nor do they improve public safety.
3:32:54
It underscores why New York City must eliminate its gang database.
3:32:57
To that end, we strongly urge city council to abolish the gang database through taking up and passing intro 798 to end the unjust surveillance of a select group of New Yorkers.
3:33:07
Thank you.
