By HERMIA JEAN-LOUIS & BRIAN MORENO
The Communities United for Police Reform and other advocacy groups on Thursday urged the City Council to pass a bill that would require police officers to always identify themselves and explain their interactions with civilians.
“We are making it clear that we won’t accept the council members failing to take action on this,” said young activist Julia Carmel Salazar at a press conference on the steps of City Hall as she backed the so-called Right to Know act.
Another advocates of the reform, Emily Hoffman, summarized the bill as “a package of police accountability legislation to protect the civil and human rights of New Yorkers in everyday encounters with officers.”
Co-sponsors councilmen Ritchie Torres and Antonio Reynoso have guaranteed that bill’s passage this year but Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, have indicated opposition to the bill.
“The purpose of the rally, is to ensure we send a clear message to the City Council and two co-sponsors of the Right to Know act to make sure they are going to pass it,” said Carmen Perez, Executive Director of The Gathering for Justice. “There are so many communities that are being negatively impacted by these unconstitutional searches by police officers. It been four years since this act has been introduced and so we are sending a message that we going to continue to stand united with all of our coalition partners to ensure that they pass it.”
On October 30 the message was sent to City Council members Ritchie Torres and Antonio Reynoso saying, “We are calling on you, as lead sponsors of the Right to know Act, to take whatever actions necessary to ensure that coalition- supported bills are either passed or discharged by the November 16, 2017 City Council Stated meeting.”
The goal was to continue putting pressure on them to stay committed in getting the bill passed.
“I think that we made our message really clear and are drawing more attention,” Salazar said.
Photo by Brian Moreno
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