In the morning of November 5th, the Magen David Yeshiva on McDonald Ave, in Gravesend, Brooklyn, was graffitied with a swastika symbol. It was spray-painted on a fence pillar in front of the Yeshiva building and on a nearby school window.

This is offensive to the Jewish community, as it reminds them of the Nazis and antisemitism happening in New York City. 

“The vandalism of the Yeshiva is just another reminder that anti-Semitism is still with us. Anti-Semitic hate crimes are more common than other hate crimes in America, and it’s only becoming more prevalent,” said Richard Shlayan, a resident of Brighton Beach and part of the Jewish community, in an interview.

Currently, the NYPD is looking for the suspect, and surveillance video shows him fleeing the scene on a bike towards Avenue S. 

This offended the community, so the following day there was a heavy security presence in the area. Men who identified as security were patrolling while kids were still in school, as well as McDonald Park across the street. 

This has prompted newly elected mayor Zohran Mamdani to speak out on X.“This is a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city. As Mayor, I will always stand steadfast with our Jewish neighbors to root the scourge of anti-Semitism out of our city,” said Mamdani.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, in 2024, there were a total of 976 incidents of Jewish Hate, and in Brooklyn, there were 253 incidents. The organization is also concerned about the severity of incidents across the city. 

William Colton, Assemblymember of District 47, put out a press release stating, “I am confident that the culprits who committed their shameful acts in the dark of night will be identified, arrested, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But, we must go further to ensure the safety and peace of mind of all of our religious and ethnic communities,” said Colton.

As of the writing of this article, no arrests have been made. Currently, the Yeshiva has not made any public statement. 

The Jewish community is still doubtful of the future steps the government could take to combat hate speech.“Our government and institutions have failed to combat this crisis, if they’re even trying,” said Shlayan.

In the early morning of December 7, Rikers detainee Aramis Furse was found “unwell” in his cell by an officer. Less than 90 minutes after being transported from the facility to a hospital in Queens, he was pronounced dead. Furse was the 14th to die in the custody of the New York City Department of Corrections (DOC) in 2025. Another Rikers inmate had died in custody less than a month earlier. 

“The safety of everyone in our care is always our foremost concern, ” said Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, NYC Correction Commissioner, in a news release regarding Furse’s death. She added that the Department is “mourning the tragic death” of Furse, and will fully investigate the event. 

The announcement of Furse’s death sparked outrage among prison reform advocates who have long been calling for conditions at Rikers to be improved until the facility can be shuttered. 

Inmates at Rikers “have suffered immense violence, medical neglect and preventable deaths,” said Yonah Zeitz, the Advocacy Director of the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice, an organization working to build community power and win systemic change. 

The organization is urging Governor Kathy Hochul to sign legislation that would overhaul the State Commission of Corrections (SCOC), an agency responsible for the oversight of New York state correctional facilities, including Rikers. By reviewing over 200 SCOC inspection reports, news outlet New York Focus found that major problems went unresolved for years, contributing to violence and deaths in correctional facilities. Though the agency released a report in 2018 listing Rikers as the worst jail in the state, it has taken no action to intervene as conditions deteriorate. 

The Katal Center is also campaigning for the city to continue on the path to close Rikers, which Zeitz said the Adams administration had “abandoned.” 

Introducing the city’s planned borough-based jails is “one step in terms of improving the culture that we have behind bars,” said Alana Sivin, director of the Greater Justice New York program of the Vera Institute of Justice, a policy organization committed to ending overcriminalization and mass incarceration. The new facilities will feature increased access to medical and mental health care, and smaller units will allow better monitoring. Sivin added that “as long as we have our jail system as it is right now, that’s not a system that treats people with dignity.” 

Medical neglect has long been reported among Rikers inmates. City records show that, during the month of April 2022, people detained on Rikers Island missed nearly 12,000 medical appointments. A state judge ordered the New York City Department of Corrections to pay out fines to Rikers inmates who had been deprived of medical appointments. The decision was called a “critical step towards holding the City accountable for its unwillingness to ensure the health and safety of people incarcerated in its jails” in a statement from the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, and Milbank LLP, the firms that brought the lawsuit. 

However, in response to Faust’s passing, the Legal Aid Society and Brooklyn Defenders emphasized that the DOC has proven ill-equipped to handle conditions on Rikers Island. 

In May of 2025, state judge Laura Taylor Swain announced that she would appoint an independent remediation manager to work in conjunction with the DOC Commissioner. 

“Neither court orders nor the Monitor’s interventions are sufficient to push the DOC toward compliance,” she said. 

While the remediation manager still has not been named, Silwa added that she hopes the manager will realize that conditions in the DOC can not be improved while Rikers still stands. Silwa hopes mayor-elect  Zohran Mamdani‘s administration will maintain a close relationship with the manager. She also hopes to see Mamdani’s administration “really working to reduce the jail population by investing in alternatives to pretrial detention” and to speed up construction of the borough-based jails. 

Furse’s family told News 12 they were not contacted when he was transported to the hospital, only finding out when someone saw it on the news and informed them. They were trying to get him to a drug treatment program, but described him as otherwise healthy and known for being soft-spoken and respectful. Furse was arrested in early 2025 and was set to appear in court the week of his death. 

“Even though the condition surrounding him,” Furse’s father said, “he was very optimistic.” 

In the morning of November 5th, the Magen David Yeshiva on McDonald Ave, in Gravesend, Brooklyn, was graffited with a swastika symbol. It was spray-painted on a fence pillar in front of the Yeshiva building and on a nearby school window.

This is offensive to the Jewish community, as it reminds them of the Nazis and antisemitism happening in New York City. 

“The vandalism of the Yeshiva is just another reminder that anti-Semitism is still with us. Anti-Semitic hate crimes are more common than other hate crimes in America, and it’s only becoming more prevalent,” said Richard Shlayan, a resident of Brighton Beach and part of the Jewish community, in an interview.

Currently, the NYPD is looking for the suspect, and surveillance video shows him fleeing the scene on a bike towards Avenue S. 

This offended the community, so the following day there was a heavy security presence in the area. Men who identified as security were patrolling while kids were still in school, as well as McDonald Park across the street. 

This has prompted newly elected mayor Zohran Mamdani to speak out on X.“This is a disgusting and heartbreaking act of antisemitism, and it has no place in our beautiful city. As Mayor, I will always stand steadfast with our Jewish neighbors to root the scourge of anti-Semitism out of our city,” said Mamdani.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, in 2024, there were a total of 976 incidents of Jewish Hate, and in Brooklyn, there were 253 incidents. The organization is also concerned about the severity of incidents across the city. 

William Colton, Assemblymember of District 47, put out a press release stating, “I am confident that the culprits who committed their shameful acts in the dark of night will be identified, arrested, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But, we must go further to ensure the safety and peace of mind of all of our religious and ethnic communities,” said Colton.

As of the writing of this article, no arrests have been made. Currently, the Yeshiva has not made any public statement. 

The Jewish community is still doubtful of the future steps the government could take to combat hate speech.“Our government and institutions have failed to combat this crisis, if they’re even trying,” said Shlayan.

The New York City Council passed a bill on Wednesday, Oct. 23, requiring the Administration of Children’s Services and the Department of Probation to expand reporting requirements on juvenile justice statistics, amid a rise in violence in the city’s juvenile detention centers.

The amended bill follows previous legislation, called Raise the Age, which mandated that children under the age of 18 cannot be prosecuted as adults in criminal cases in New York State. That increased the population in youth detention facilities.The bill would increase the frequency of the ACS and Probation reports on programs offered to probationers and reoffenders that are placed in two of NYC juvenile detention centers, Crossroads, in Brooklyn, and Horizon, in the Bronx, operated by ACS’s Division of Youth and Family Justice.

Since Raise the Age took effect in 2019, there has been a rise in reports of violence in the juvenile detention centers, according to a 75-page report from the Department of Investigation. In September 2022, six Crossroads employees were injured, four of whom were escorted to the hospital. The staff escorted to the hospital had been punched, tackled, choked, knocked to the floor, and had various injuries, according to the report.

Joan Gardner, Deputy Commissioner of Juvenile Operations for the Dept. of Probation, testified in June that providing frequent reports on juvenile statistics would be difficult to implement. “DOP is willing to be transparent,” she said. “However, the frequency of the reporting requirements would present operational, and staffing challenges.” But she promised to work with the Council to achieve the bill’s goals.

While the exact date of ACS’s posting of juvenile justice statistics on their website is unclear, the data is currently available stating they are in compliance with local law 44 that passed in 2023.

There was a total of  576 cases of physical restraints by department staff on youth in custody at the Crossroads and Horizon Centers, but only one report of injury, according to ACS 2024 juvenile report. There were no statistics on injuries to the staff members.

ACS, which oversees the facilities, indicated that reports on violence towards staff members was finalized in May 2023, and does not reflect the recent increase in population of youth.

“Despite the increase [of juveniles], violence is down, restorative work with youth is making a difference,” said Stephanie Gendell, a spokeswoman for the agency.

In its Frequently Asked Questions response to concerns about safety for Youth Development Specialists (YDS) working in detention centers, the ACS noted that many juveniles in these facilities have faced significant trauma, which can lead to emotional outbursts. While staff occasionally encounter challenges, ACS stated that the risks are not as dangerous as those faced by firefighters or police officers.

“Occasionally, YDS may experience a minor injury, but they are never in life-threatening danger such as a fire fighter or police officer,” according to ACS FAQ.

This was not the case with a former Crossroads Juvenile Center staff member, Kate, who requested using only her first name. She would come home with marks on her arms from either breaking up a fight between two teens or being attacked by one.

“Every day was hell,” said Kate. “I would come home and have to explain to my husband why I have bruises on my arms. I shouldn’t have to feel like I need to learn how to fight to be safe at work.”

Kate quit in 2022, after working at the detention center in less than a year. She was aware of the challenges that would come with the job but was told that there were proper security measures in place to ensure minimal danger. She also struggled with her mental health due to empathizing with the youth’s unfortunate life experiences.

“I was promised that I would be safe,” said Kate. “There’s only so much empathy I can have for these kids. The abuse to my mental health was worse than the physical abuse.”

Cyber security and data protection experts made a clear point clear at the Digital New York Summit on Mar. 17: hackers are two steps ahead of the private and public sector.

“The bad guys are winning,” John S. Shegerian, CEO of Electronic Recyclers International (ERI) told the audience.

Carlos P. Kizzee, senior vice president of the Center for Internet Security and the moderator of the panel agreed. “Threat actors are planning ahead. We need to plan ahead as well,” he said. Individuals and companies need to be prepared for cybernetic attacks.

Shegerian also said that cyber criminals were able to steal more than $6 trillion last year, up from $3 trillion in 2015. Cyber-attacks are growing exponentially both in numbers and the seriousness of the attack.

A real-life example of why data protection is important is the story he told about a financial organization that for five years rejected the services of ERI because they claimed that they know how to protect their data.

Then the day before the summit, the financial organization needed help with a private matter. “We told them that over seventy percent of their employees have cross contaminated their personal hardware and the information on their business hardware,” he said. In other words, employees compromised the company’s private information by using their personal computers and cellphones for business related matters.

Anna Mercado Clark, a lawyer and the leader of Phillips Lytle’s data security and digital forensics practice teams also said it is not enough to only work with top management but with people throughout the company.

“Some manufacturers and some companies think: ‘No one cares about me. I’m not going be a subject of a cyber-attack,’” Clark said. “These attackers are smart. They want to get the most bang out of your buck.”

One way that hackers are making profit out of citizens and private companies’ information is by ransomware: they lockdown any sensitive information, then they ask for money in return.

“If you don’t think that this an issue that concerns you, that’s incorrect,” Clark told the audience.

After a Rise in Gun Violence, Criminal Justice a Focus at NYC Council Meeting

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams opened her first Stated Meeting the New York City Council Feb. 10 saying they had to focus on gun violence. “We must confront this challenge now and always,” she said. “This crisis Is not new, especially in communities of color.” She is also the first African American woman to ever be elected for the position and leads a council which is majority women.

Adams began her speech by giving a tribute to Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, the two police officers who were killed in Harlem going to a domestic violence call on Jan. 21.

But policing is only one part of the equation, according to Adams. “Bringing an end to this violence requires a multifaceted approach which requires comprehensive solutions,” she said.

The focus should shift to preventing crime before it even occurs by “investing in community-based safety solutions, violence prevention programs, mental healthcare and crisis resistance, and a range of other communities’ investments that promote the well being of all of our neighborhoods.” Adams explained.

Furthermore, there has to be an investment into the health and stability of New Yorkers. “Especially those at greater risks of experiencing violence because of where they live,” she said. Adams also said that young people must be provided with education and employment opportunities.

While her speech was centered on how New Yorkers need to join together to fight crime and violence, the meeting ended with a set-to between Council Member Charles Barron (D. Brooklyn and Council Member Kalman Yeger (D. Brooklyn) over approaches to crime reduction.

Barron attacked Mayor Eric Adams who had spoken in the state capital the day criticizing the reduction of cash bail for non-violent crimes that had been passed by the legislature last year. Adams, in his speech in the state capital, brought up the case of an 11-month old baby who was shot by a stray bullet.

“Mayor, you should feel ashamed of yourself. To use the blood of an eleven month child, the blood of police officers and other innocent people who were killed to try to push back on no cash bail,” Barron said. “For the mayor to get up there and use the blood of innocent people to manipulate you emotionally and to tell us to debate the mother, not him, that is unconscionable and totally unacceptable.”

Council Member Kalman Yeger attacked Barron. “What [Adams] said is that he wants there to be a dangerousness standard that a court can look at whether or not somebody is too dangerous to put back out on the streets.” Mayor Adams does not want to “lock people up” and he is not using the blood of innocent people in order to push his political agenda. “If anybody is in this building and feels like showing up and having a conversation with the mayor, this mayor has shown that he is willing to have a conversation with the members of this council.”

There are one billion children who live in areas where the climate is considered at “extremely high risk” according to a report from UNICEF.

According to ECPAT-USA, an anti-human-trafficking organization, this can cause many children to migrate alone to cities, leading them to be caught in the human trafficking market.

On March 8, ECPAT-USA held a virtual discussion about the multiple ways in which climate change can lead to children being trafficked and solutions to prevent human trafficking.

The panel consisted of six people from across the world that are from organizations that prioritize migration, child-safety, and climate change.

Laura Healy is a human rights lawyer and is a program lawyer and program specialist working on migration and displacement at UNICEF.

“Children and young people impacted by climate change often have few opportunities to move safely,” she said. “So trafficking can be an unintended but quite direct consequence.”

The harsh climate in certain areas can cause people, especially children, to move to areas in search of resources. There are 820 million children who are highly exposed to heat waves, 400 million children who live in areas that face high risks of cyclones, and 850 million are exposed to four or more climate related shocks, according to Healy.

Northern Ghana is an example of a harsh climate because it has four months of rain and that leads to flooding.

“A large number of young people in the streets are children who have migrated from the northern part of Ghana, and it’s reported that there are over 60,000 children that are living on the streets of Ghana,” said Olivia Umoh, director of Safe-Child Advocacy. “Increased poverty, migration, and lack of protection, exposes them to the risk of trafficking.”

She then went into depth about what happens to the trafficked children.

“Ghananian youth and women are trafficked internally and externally for domestic servitude for the girls,” she said. “Farm labor, illegal mining, and fish labor for the boys. Some of the children work as fishermen and are at risk of drowning. And there is sexual exploitation.”

Globally, about 20% of human trafficking victims are children, however, 79% of human trafficking incidents are for sexual exploitation, according to the United Nations.

Panelist suggested ways to counter climate change-caused human trafficking. One proposal to help solve this issue was to focus on children’s rights laws.

“Children’s rights law provides a mandate for a comprehensive response,” said Jonathan Todres, a professor of Law at Georgia State University College of Law. “There’s a breadth of law, including children’s rights law, that requires governments to take steps to prevent trafficking of children. It requires that governments ensure access to healthcare, to ensure that every child has a right to an education, to housing, to basic nutrition, and more.”

Another approach is to invest in collecting more data on children affected by climate mobility and child trafficking. This would help organizations, advocacy groups, and governments analyze future displacement risks for the youth and perhaps lead to better protection services in countries and cities to address incidents of trafficking, violence, or abuse against children.

The most important solution that was agreed upon by the panel is to listen to the voices of those children.

“We need to partner with children and young people impacted by climate change and most at risk of trafficking and exploitation,” said Healy. “This means listening to them and actually amplifying their voices in support to translate [their concerns] into concrete action.”

Kiana Joy Yabut is a representative for the University of Guam in the Guam Youth Congress, a governmental body that allows the youth (between ages 14-23) to create and pass bills that then goes on to the Guam legislature where they debate and possibly pass these laws.

She said it best in terms of human trafficking and climate change.

“One of the biggest misconceptions about climate change is that it’s really viewed by policy makers as solely an environmental issue,” said the 21-year-old representative. “The truth is that climate change is an everything issue.”

The Asian-American Federation encourages civilians to practice what they call the “OODA Loop” in light of the increasing number of hate crimes targeted towards the Asian community in New York City.

In a virtual two-part community safety training held via Zoom on February 24th, the Asian-American Federation, an umbrella group of advocacy and social service groups serving all the Asian communities of New York, introduced de-escalation and situational awareness techniques, including the “OODA Loop,” to highlight the importance of recognizing instinctual responses and how to respond safely to uncertain events.

OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act, and signifies the importance of practicing being present, identifying any behavioral anomalies, staying grounded, and reacting, if necessary, in situations one may find uncomfortable.

Meeting host Kalaya’an Mendoza described the OODA Loop as a “cognitive shortcut” to use when one feels pushed out of their comfort zone. Mendoza, who is the Director of U.S. programs at the international peacekeeping organization Non-Violent Peaceforce, credited this situational technique as his own defense mechanism while growing up

“As a queer person of color, who grew up in the ’90s, I always had to make sure I was doing this [OODA Loop], I just didn’t have a name for it at the time,” said Mendoza.

The training, titled “Protecting Ourselves and Our Communities,” also consisted of helping participants develop a set of responses to perceived danger. This included discussing what may trigger an individual, how to scan for potential threats, and self-care methods to help one feel grounded and safe at all times.

The rise in racially motivated attacks against Asian-Americans began around the start of the Covid-19 pandemic amid negative stereotyping of Asians around the Covid-19 virus, and has continued since. According to data released by the New York Police Department earlier this year, Asian-related hate crimes skyrocketed 343% from 2020 to 2021, with over 130 reported attacks in New York City alone.

“You never know who’s going to be next,” said a 29-year-old Chinese-American, who wanted to remain anonymous. “I don’t feel safe knowing it could be a family member, a friend, or even me,” she added.

The Asian-American Federation will be hosting the two-part safety training, three additional times. The next meeting, which will be the first part of the two titled, “Community Mapping and Assessing Threat,” is scheduled for March 15th.

By completing both parts of the safety training, participants are eligible to serve as a Community Companion in the Asian-American Federation’s Community Safety Program. As a community companion, participants work to help keep members safe in Asian-majority neighborhoods, such as Sunset Park, Brooklyn; Chinatown, Manhattan; and Flushing, Queens.

BROOKLYN—The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), following a dismal two-year decline in ridership needs riders back into the subways. Chair and CEO Janno Lieber announced in a virtual meeting Feb. 24 that there would be no fare hike this year, thanks to Federal stimulus money, while 20 commuters spoke out for improvement of service.

No small order: the enormity of the pandemic dropped the ridership rates of the MTA by 50% through much of the pandemic. New Yorkers have avoided public transit the Omicron variant forced people to work from home and other safety conditions plagued city transit.

“By working with the city and the state, I’m convinced we can fix these conditions and welcome New Yorkers back into a system that’s safer and feels safer,” said Leiber.

Crime on subways was also a major concern proposed by residents who spoke on Thursday. They called on the board to respond to the fear felt by riders, citing the death of the late Asian-American Michele Go, 40, who was pushed into the path of an oncoming train by a homeless attacker.

Malinda Elias, a mother who spoke to the board said, “Currently I have yet to go on a bus or a subway with my 18-month-old because of safety and convenience concerns.”

Leiber said the city, state and the MTA are doing something about it. “Last Friday I stood with Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams, as they unveiled a comprehensive subway safety plan that prioritizes outreach and services for homeless and others who are housing in our system and suffer from mental issues,” he said.

The MTA will also enforce a subway code of conduct in addition to services to people in need. The governor and mayor agree to bolster the code’s significance by placing a record number of police officers in underground stations.
“No more smoking, no more doing drugs, no more sleeping, no more barbecues on the subway system, and no more just doing whatever you want,” said Adams. Chief Safety Officer, Patrick Warren will oversee the commitment made to NYC riders for the MTA.

Ridership rates are expected to spike in the coming weeks of March, as Adams had urged CEOs to resettle their companies back into office spaces to help revitalize surrounding service companies.

A group of mothers attended the public forum and pushed back against a ban on open strollers on buses, scrutinizing the board at the meeting for infringing on the convenience and accessibility of certain riders.

One mother pointed out that having a child sit on a mother’s lap contradicted the rule of car seats: to have the baby strapped in. Another said it was unsafe for her to manage her energetic child with one hand while balancing a heavy stroller away from the clear path on the bus.

“Bus drivers humiliate you; they create scenes,” Danielle Avaçar said. “It’s completely unfair for parents to put up with it,”. Some who were dismayed by the difficulty of riding buses accompanied by their baby and a stroller said they stopped riding buses.

The MTA expressed no clear response to resolve this concern, however, with assistance from the governor’s and mayor’s office, riders can expect novel changes to public transportation services.

Lisa Daglian, Executive Director of Permanent Citizen Advisory to the MTA (PCAC) addressed the board, “MTA needs to use every tool in its tool kit to keep riders safe and help them feel safer, so they return. Without riders, the cliff will only become steeper, and the red ink deeper.”

The New York City Campaign Finance Board met February 10, to deliberate about campaign violations by three losing candidates from the 2017 City Council election and imposed penalties totaling $191,122.

Dylan Schwartz, a 2017 City Council candidate for District 51 in Staten Island, was accused of eight campaign violations including accepting over the limit contributions, converting campaign funds to personal use, making impermissible post-election expenditures, and failure to respond to the additional documentation request and draft audit report. The Campaign Financial Board staff also recommended that his campaign be held responsible for repaying public funds.

“I recognize that it is certainly too little too late, but I came to take responsibility for what I am able to at this point,” said Schwartz.

The CFB board found Schwartz guilty of all eight violations and imposed penalties and repayment obligations totaling $107,301.

Martha Speranza, a 2017 City Council candidate for District 4 which runs down the east side Manhattan, was accused of nine campaign violations including, failing to document transactions, accepting contributions from corporations, limited liability companies or partnerships, making impermissible post-election expenditures, and exceeding expenditure limit. The Campaign Financial Board staff further found her campaign responsible for repaying public funds.

Speranza was represented by Alexander Rabb, who asserted, for the most part, the former candidate did not contest the CFB’s findings.

He said the former candidate was consumed by personal problems at the time.

“Running for office was an extremely challenging experience,” said Speranza. “During the course of my campaign, I not only welcomed twins but learned that my mother had terminal cancer and was given six months left to live.”

The CFB Board found Speranza guilty of all nine violations and imposed penalties and repayment obligations totaling $78,154

Randy Abreu, a 2017 City Council candidate for District 4 in the Bronx was accused of seven campaign violations including, failing to demonstrate compliance with cash receipts reporting and documentation requirements, failing to report transactions and daily pre-election disclosure statements, failure to document transactions, and making impermissible post-election expenditures. The Campaign Financial Board found the campaign responsible for repaying public funds.

Abreu was represented by Sarah Steiner who emphasized Abreu was a first time candidate who became overwhelmed by campaign responsibilities, medical emergencies, and financial instabilities.

“He didn’t have a home,” said Steiner. “He had no stable residence and was injured very severely, which caused him to work and find a place to sleep for the night.”

Steiner said Abreu was assaulted in Washington DC, where he was hit on the head by a large jagged rock for which he required intensive medical attention and was diagnosed with post-concussive syndrome.

“This is a very hard way to live and also comply with record keeping requirements,” said Steiner. “He also believed the record requirements were being handled by the people who he had trusted to handle them, and they were not.”

Steiner also defends Abreu’s failure to respond to additional documentation requests stating that he did not receive a letter from the Campaign Finance Board as he lacked a stable home at the time and did not have an address to provide for them at that time.

The CFB Board found Abreu guilty of all seven violations and imposed penalties totaling $5,667. However, the CFB Board did not impose any public funds repayment obligations.

Several prominent social justice organizations agree: New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ “blueprint” to end gun violence is a way to “oversee and maintain social control of black bodies,” adding technology to the 2003 version of stop and frisk. With rising crime rates in New York City, Adams released his plan on Jan. 24, introducing artificial intelligence and other advanced technology to the New York City Police Department. The groups pushed back at a press conference on Feb. 3.

Adams’ plan’s details include giving the NYPD facial recognition technology and gunshot detection programs. An overall increase in mass surveillance, causing a whirlwind of disagreement by groups which include the Legal Aid Society, the National Lawyers Guild and Amnesty International.

As mentioned by Jason Williamson, executive director of the NYU Center of Race, Inequality, and the Law, black and brown communities would be affected disproportionately by this new technology as they have with the stop and frisk policy. That policy was ruled unconstitutional and race-based by a federal judge in 2013.

This AI technology has been proven to be faulty and racially biased according to Jerome Greco, supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s Digital Forensics team. “Studies show that it [facial recognition] is less accurate on people of color, women, and young people and transgender people,” he said. 

This tech would be added to programs police use such as bite mark evidence, something that teams at the Innocence Project showed was not unique the same way DNA and fingerprints are. The Innocence Project is a 30-year-old organization that exonerates wrongly convicted people.

“The NYPD’s claims about wanting to establish positive ties with the community they allege to serve are inconsistent with the use of faulty tech on people who live or work there,” Greco said. Just this past year Nijeer Parks, a 30-year-old black carpenter in New Jersey, was wrongfully arrested for assault charges because of the facial recognition software used by police.

Racial biases aside, the new technology would be considered a “violation of the right to privacy,” as said by Matt Mahmoud, Artificial Intelligences for Human Rights advisor at Amnesty International. The field of vision of controlled cameras used by the NYPD is estimated to be about one and a half to two blocks according to Mahmoud.”A protester walking a sample route from Washington Square Park subway to Washington Square Park proper is potentially exposed to facial recognition for 100% of their journey…surveilled by up to four NYPD cameras at a time,” he said. 

This level of surveillance in impoverished communities, a majority made up of minorities, will only increase the level of suspicion between the public and law enforcement.

”Americans love a technological fix and they will take one bit of anecdotal info and run with it because it allows elected officials to avoid responsibility for creating the conditions that are producing violence in our community,” said Alex Vitale, a Brooklyn College sociology professor. “It is a set of political slogans designed to appeal to people’s worst fears.”

As an alternative to proposing this advanced technology, three participants at the Conference, Vitale, Christina Swarns of the Innocence Project and Erica Johnson of the National Lawyers Guild all suggested “community policing,” where officers would be working closely with community members to mend relations between damaged communities and the police. It is a proven solution that has been successful across the country. They expressed dissatisfaction that Adams’ plan to rely so much on new software was going in the wrong direction.

A Queens man, previously found guilty of murder and robbery, walked out of the Queens County Courthouse Thursday, exonerated of his crimes after 25 years in prison.

A joint motion presented by both the Queens DA’s Office and the Innocence Project, representing Jaythan Kendrick, to Judge Joseph A. Zayas to vacate the conviction and seal any record of Kendrick’s conviction.  Zayas beamed from the outset of the hearing and said to Kendrick, “[if it were not for the masks] You would see us all smiling because of what is about to happen today.”

Kendrick was convicted in the 1994 murder and robbery of 72-year-old Josephine Sanchez that occurred outside of the Ravenswood Housing Project in Queens. On the night of the murder he was stopped by police because he matched the description of the suspect. Police interrogated Kendrick for two days and used what Kendrick’s lawyer, Susan Friedman, described as “guilt presumptive interrogation tactics”.

Most of the evidence used against Kendrick in his first trial was found to be unrelated to the case or a result of prosecutorial misconduct, later probes showed. The star witness for the prosecution was Brandon Rogers, who was 10 years old at the time of the incident. The child was asked to pick the person he had seen commit the crimes from a lineup containing Kendrick as well as fill-ins, people who had no relation to the crime but looked similar to the suspect. Originally, later investigators said, Rogers picked a fill-in, before police told him he had picked the wrong person and asked him to pick again. Rogers has since recanted his testimony and told lawyers from the Innocence Project that he had never even seen the face of the man who committed the crime.

The other evidence included the presence of a purse matching the description of the one that was taken from Sanchez at the crime scene in Kendrick’s apartment. Before Thursday’s proceedings, a test on the purse  found no DNA from the victim, all but guaranteeing that it was never in Sanchez’s possession. Moreover, fingernail clippings taken from the victim found male DNA that excluded Kendrick from the suspect pool.

Queens DA Melinda Katz  played an instrumental role in vacating Mr. Kendrick’s conviction. Prior DA administrations had intimidated witnesses from speaking to Mr. Kendrick’s legal team and were generally uncooperative with his attorneys. Katz created the Conviction Integrity Unit to take on cases such and her cooperation with the defense did not go unnoticed. Both Judge Zayas and Kendrick thanked her for her part,

““I really wanna thank you because you kept your word, this day is possible due to you,” said the former defendant, whose demeanor had been calm throughout the proceedings. “I just knew one thing for the last 25 years; I didn’t commit this crime.”

Before granting the motion to vacate the conviction, the judge announced that no contempt charges would be handed down for any cheering or clapping from the audience in the courtroom. Applause erupted.

Then the man in the black robe said the words Kendrick had been waiting a quarter of a century to hear, “I hereby vacate your convictions, the motion is granted.”

A former Brooklyn prosecutor was indicted Monday on federal charges that she forged multiple judges’ signatures to illegally wiretap calls and receive text messages.

Tara Lenich, 41, was accused of illegally wiretapping two cell phones for over a year. She pleaded innocent to the charges at U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on Monday afternoon and was released on $500,000 bond, authorities said.

Lenich was arrested in November and fired from her position as a supervisory assistant district attorney, according to the federal indictment.

Lenich allegedly ripped previous signatures from judges and taped them onto orders for wiretaps that the judges never actually saw.

The wiretaps were used to spy on Det. Jarrett Lemieux, who worked with Lenich for 11 years, according to a report by the Daily News.

Lenich, formerly deputy chief of the Violent Criminal Enterprise Bureau in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, allegedly submitted false documents to secure what were bogus wiretapping warrants. She also allegedly created false orders to intercept text messages from the cell phones.

“In this case, as alleged, Lenich’s illegal wiretapping scheme demonstrates an abuse of power that won’t be tolerated within our criminal justice system,” William F. Sweeney, assistant FBI director in charge of the agency’s New York office, said in a press release. “Unfortunately, sometimes those close to the law stray far from the truth. As demonstrated today, however, everyone is expected to play by the rules; for this we’ll make no exceptions.”

Lenich’s attorney, Gary Farrell, could not be reached for comment.

Lenich is charged with two counts of illegal interception of communications and could face up to five years in prison for each count if convicted.

By LISA FLAUGH

A former teacher at a Ditmas Park elementary school was found not guilty on all charges in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Friday after being accused of forcibly touching five girls.

Omil Carrasquillo, 38, waited solemnly to hear the jury’s verdict as his family, present for every court date he’d had, sat together on one bench in the courtroom. As the jury foreperson continued to respond “not guilty” to each charge as it was called out, Carrasquillo began to weep, holding a tissue up to his face and trying to remain silent. His relatives whispered to each other. “Oh my God,” one said as she leaned on another, and began to cry as well.

After Justice Debora Dowling dismissed the jury and told Carrasquillo he was free to leave, the family gathered outside the courtroom and Carrasquillo proclaimed through his tears, “This is justice! This is justice!” The family came together for a group hug, crying. They eventually looked up and found defense attorney Anthony LaPinta and someone said, “get in here,” and invited him in for the hug as well.

Full story at Bklyner.com.

A former teacher accused of groping five girls at a Ditmas Park public school agreed to a guilty plea on Monday – and then quickly changed his mind.

Omil Carrasquillo, 38, is being tried at State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on charges that he sexually abused girls aged 8 to 11 years old between November 2012 and September 2014. He was a science teacher at Public School 249 on Marlborough Road near Caton Avenue when the allegations arose from some of his students, who said he touched them inappropriately. The trial was to continue Wednesday after being postponed Tuesday because a juror was ill.

Before opening arguments began Monday, Justice Deborah Dowling accepted an “open plea” under which Carrasquillo would plead guilty and agree to serve five years in prison. Carrasquillo was given until the end of the day to decide whether to take the offer from prosecutors.

After a recess, relatives of Carrasquillo came back into the courtroom with red eyes and long faces, foreshadowing the defendant’s decision to accept the plea, which also included five years of post-release supervision and registration as a sex offender.

Carrasquillo looked at his teary-eyed family in the back of the courtroom, then looked back again before telling Dowling he accepted the plea offer and would plead guilty.

“The truth will prevail!” a family member yelled suddenly. After that remark, the former teacher apparently reconsidered.

“I withdraw that plea,” he said as his family gasped behind him. “I’m not guilty…I’m innocent!”

The trial began. If convicted, Carrasquillo faces a maximum of three to seven years in prison for each child abused. In addition to sexual abuse, he is charged with child endangerment.

n her opening argument, Assistant District Attorney Ebonie Legrand told jurors they will hear from the girls Carrasquillo touched. “You’ll see with your own eyes,” she said, “what is likely the most traumatizing experience they’ve had to endure in their short lives.”

The girls’ parents “had to face their worst nightmares,” she said. “He continued to teach, and he continued to touch.”

Defense lawyer Anthony LaPinta told jurors that Carrasquillo was having disciplinary troubles with his students and finally took action, leading one girl to attempt to storm out of the room.  Carrasquillo met her in the doorway, touching her shoulders.  She yelled, “Don’t touch me!” and ran out of the room, not to return for the day, LaPinta said.

LaPinta said Carrasquillo was “swept in the avalanche of outrage” after that event.

Carrasquillo resigned from teaching after his arrest in 2014. He had started working at PS 249 in 2006. He lives in Selden, Long Island with his wife and son.

This story first appeared at Bklyner.com through a collaboration with Brooklyn News Service.