Bronx Defenders Statement on Passage of STAT Act and 50-A Repeal
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
Bronx Defenders Statement on Passage of STAT Act and 50-A Repeal
June 9, 2020
CONTACT
Ryan Karerat, The Bronx Defenders (RKarerat@bronxdefenders.org)
(NEW YORK, NY) – Justine Olderman, Executive Director of The Bronx Defenders, released the following statement in response to the passage of criminal justice reforms in Albany, including the STAT Act and the repeal of 50-A:
“We applaud the full repeal of New York’s 50-A law and the passage of the STAT Act. There is no one bill or law that can legislate away generations of state-sanctioned police violence. But these bills are critical tools in holding police accountable for their misconduct.
As people in the streets are making clear every day, there is overwhelming public support for policies that will finally hold our police accountable for repeated acts of violence, discrimination, and harassment. In short, New Yorkers are demanding justice and it’s imperative for our elected officials to answer the call. By repealing 50-A and passing the STAT Act, the public will finally have access to critical information that is a prerequisite for meaningful police accountability. That includes information on incidents of police violence and the disciplinary records of individual officers involved, as well as comprehensive data that can help demonstrate how the people we represent in low-income Black and brown communities are targeted and discriminated against by police. This is basic information that the public has a right to know.
The passage of these bills will only be valuable if public officials are willing to listen and act on the information to hold police accountable. Ultimately, we can only attempt to reverse the legacy of overpolicing and racial profiling in our Black and brown communities by dramatically shrinking the policing footprint and investing directly in those communities. We won’t let up in this fight until we realize that vision. We urge the Governor to sign these bills immediately.”