NYPD Uses New Policy To Increase Their Stops Of Black Males

The latest numbers show the New York Police Department's skyrocketing street stops increased to more than 200,000 stops during the first three months of 2012.

The NYPD says officers stopped people on New York City's streets 203,500 times from January through March. That's up from 183,326 during the same quarter last year.

The policy allows an officer to stop a person based on reasonable suspicion, which is lower than that of probable cause needed to justify an arrest.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the practice has gotten guns off the streets and saved lives. The city's number of murders is expected to be a record low of less than 500 this year.

Critics say the police department is unfairly targeting minorities.

Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/13/nypd-stop-and-frisks-2012_n_1512852.html

Man Ran Over By Police, Family Wants Justice

The family of a Brooklyn man struck and killed by a police car earlier this month will join Reverend Al Sharpton in calling for an investigation into the fatal incident.

Tamon Robinson, 27, was allegedly spotted by police at 5:30 AM on April 12th stealing cobblestones from the Bay View Houses, apublic housing complex in Canarsie.

When he saw police, Robinson bolted for his mother's building, which The New York Times reports was just a short 100 yards away. Two officers were chasing him on foot and another set were chasing him by car.

As Robinson neared the building, the cop car veered up onto the sidewalk.

"They hit him,” said 26-year-old Franchette Mowbray, who witnessed the episode, told The Times. “He flew up and he came down. They backed the car up, and they told him to get up. People were yelling out their windows screaming at the cops, ‘We saw what you did.’ ”

The official police account of the day's events differs from witnesses, however. Police say the car was stopped when Robinson ran into it. Friends of Robinson also say thathe had permission to take the cobblestones, as he had a business on the side selling such materials.

Robinson--a popular barista at a Brooklyn Connecticut Muffin --suffered a head injury was taken to the hospital where he was handcuffed to his bed, even after falling into a coma.

After his six days, he was declared brain dead and his family elected to take him off the respirator. He died on April 18th.

Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/26/family-of-tamon-robinson-killed-by-nypd-cruiser-al-sharpton_n_1457307.html

Injustice With DA Bring False Charges Against Two Black Males.

The Brooklyn DA's office sat on a rape recantation for nearly a year while two men accused of the crime sat behind bars, documents reveal.

Last June, Damien Crooks and Jamali Brockett were arrested for forcing a 13-year-old Jewish Orthodox girl into prostitution in 2003, and then raping, assaulting and sexually trafficking her for the next 8 years.

Two other men, Jawara Brockett and Darrell Dula, were also arrested and charged with raping the girl.

A day after accusing Jawara Brockett and Dula, however, the girl, then 22-years-old, went back to the police, and told detectives she was simply a prostitute for 5 years and made up the allegations against Brockett and Dula.
From The New York Daily News:

“I once again asked [her] if she was raped,” a detective wrote in a police report after the interview. “She told me ‘no’ and stated to me, ‘Can’t a ho change her ways?’ ” The woman also signed a recantation, but the case proceeded and in spring 2011, a grand jury voted to indict Dula, Crooks and two others who were allegedly part of the crew.

Defense attorneys for the men didn't receive the woman's recantation until April 2012, when prosecutor Rebecca Gingold, who replaced Assistant District Attorney Abbie Greenberger, discovered the documents and turned them over.

Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/18/brooklyn-das-office-woman-rape-accusation-jawara-brockett-darrell-dula_n_1434981.html?ref=black-voices&ir=Black%20Voices

Now There Are Three And The Number Keep Growing.

The family of Ramarley Graham, the unarmed Bronx 18-year-old shot and killed by an NYPD officer in February, says they will hold rallies and marches every Thursday for 18 weeks to demand justice, CBS reports.

“We’re not waiting patiently. We will be here this Thursday, next Thursday and Thursdays beyond that until we see some type of movement,” the family's attorney Royce Russell said to a large crowd of supporters at a rally Thursday.


Graham’s father, Franclot Graham, said “there’s not a day [that] goes by that I don’t cry," adding, “All we want for our son is justice.”

Security footage from the February incident shows Ramarley Graham entering his grandmother's home and police following him shortly thereafter. Cops said they had witnessed Graham participate in a drug deal and thought he had a gun. They illegally entered the home without a search warrant.
Inside the home Graham went into the bathroom, where he may have been trying to flush some marijuana down the toilet, when Officer Richard Haste--now on restrictive duty while Internal affairs investigates the incident--fired one shot and killed the teen.
Graham did not have a gun.

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Why Are Black & Latino Students The Only Ones Arrested By NYPD?

An average of 5 students were arrested each day in New York City schools during the last three months of 2011, new NYPD data reveals. And of those students, a staggering 90 percent were black or latino.

In accordance with the School Safety Act passed by City Council--which requires the NYPD to release the school arrest statistics every three months--the NYPD released this report showing that from October 1 to December 31 of 2011, 279 students were arrested and another 532 students were issued summonses, mostly for disorderly conduct.

Despite comprising only 29 percent of the student population, black students made up 60 percent of the arrests while latinos, made up 30 percent. 75 percent of those arrested were male.
Teenage demonstrators gathered outside One Police Plaza Wednesday, CBS reports, chanting "Dignity For All Students” and “More Books, No Cops.”

One student at the protest said, "You have wonder what is the number going to be for the whole school year and we need to ask ourselves 'Is this school safety? Is this the NYPD showing us that they're keeping us safe by arresting us and giving us court summons for the most minor things?"

Read More  Ny News , Nypd , Paul Browne , Donna-Lieberman , New York City Schools , New York City Student Arrests , New York News , Nyclu , School Safety Act , Black Voices News .