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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by David Moss, Legal Fellow at Legal Defense Fund
3:54:50
ยท
171 sec
David Moss, representing the Legal Defense Fund, testifies in favor of Intro 798, which would abolish the NYPD's criminal group database. He argues that the database relies on biased information, results in racial profiling, and disproportionately harms communities of color, especially young people and public housing residents.
- Moss highlights that 99% of people in the database are Black or Latino, with about 1,600 added as children.
- He criticizes the broad criteria for adding individuals, including wearing common colors, living in certain areas, and social media activity.
- Moss cites a study showing that abolishing gang databases in other cities did not impact crime rates, arguing it is not a legitimate public safety tool.
David Moss
3:54:50
Thank you Chair Salaam.
3:54:51
My name is David Moss speaking on behalf of the Legal Defense Fund.
3:54:55
We really appreciate this opportunity to testify in favor of Intro seven ninety eight.
3:55:01
Through the criminal group database, the NYPD relies on biased and unreliable information to indiscriminately designate thousands of New Yorkers as members of gangs.
3:55:11
This results in racial profiling and civil liberties violations that almost exclusively harm communities of color, with particular risk to young people and to public housing residents.
3:55:22
The database's active list, as we've heard, includes over 13,000 New Yorkers, 90 nine percent of whom are black or Latino.
3:55:28
And, as of the OIG report, fairly recently, approximately 1,600 people on the list were added when they were children.
3:55:40
Criteria for adding people has included wearing gang colors, which according to NYPD training materials can include black, gold, yellow, red, purple, green, blue, white, brown, khaki, gray, and orange.
3:55:55
Every color of the rainbow.
3:55:58
People have been added for being in a gang location and according to the OIG officers have often designated entire NYCHA developments in their entirety as a gang location when using that criterion to add someone to the database.
3:56:12
Meaning that a person can be added based in part just by being in or around their own home.
3:56:18
People can be added because of their social media activity, whether it's posting on a friend's page, posting a picture of themselves wearing certain colors, standing next to another person that the NYPD suspects as being a gang member, quoting song lyrics, using certain emojis.
3:56:34
Many other innocuous behaviors on social media have been used to add people to the gang database.
3:56:39
So in short, the NYPD has given itself the unfettered power and authority to add virtually anybody it wants to the database and it uses that discretion to exclusively target black and brown people.
3:56:52
And particularly to target young people by criminalizing culture and social media habits that are common among black and brown youth.
3:56:58
And I really also want to add, the database does put people in harm's way.
3:57:02
It does lead to more intense police encounters, stops, arrests, longer detention.
3:57:11
So, it certainly does harm people.
3:57:14
As folks have mentioned, Chicago, Portland have abolished their gang database.
3:57:19
LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute did a study where we investigated whether or not that had any impact at all on crime rates.
3:57:27
And abolishing the database did not impact crime in those cities.
3:57:31
So, which tells us that the gang database is not a legitimate public safety tool.
3:57:36
So I will just end there because I'm over time.
3:57:40
But thank you so much for this opportunity.