Bronx Defenders Statement on de Blasio Police Reform Plan

NEW YORK – The City Council voted today to approve and endorse Mayor de Blasio’s proposed police ‘reform and reinvention’ plan for New York City as mandated by Governor Cuomo’s executive order 203.

Justine Olderman, Executive Director of The Bronx Defenders, issued the following response:

“The Mayor’s police ‘reform’ plan and process has been flawed from the start, and today’s vote only serves to reinforce the status quo rather than challenging it.

This weak and unimaginative plan will do nothing to address the NYPD’s endemic racism, nor will it reduce the footprint of policing in communities of color. Instead, the proposals funnel more funding towards failed policing strategies and will increase the control and power of the NYPD. More fundamentally, the City’s decision to ignore the voices of communities—in favor of a process controlled by the NYPD and defined by a lack of transparency— makes clear that the purpose of this process was never reimagination of policing but rather reinvestment in the status quo.

Thousands of people across the City took to the streets last year to demand change, only to be met with a disgraceful display of violence and aggression from the NYPD. The City Council has today committed to ensuring that the NYPD remains accountable to no one, least of all the people they are meant to serve. Instead of centering the needs of impacted people and investing directly in communities most harmed by the NYPD, the City has squandered an opportunity and doubled down on the same strategies that got us here in the first place.”