On Wednesday June 19, at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYC mayoral candidates John Liu, Bill Thompson, Anthony Weiner, Bill de Blasio, Chris Quinn, Sal Albanese and others attended a forum discussing Policing and Criminal Justice in New York City.
At the event, organized by the Police Reform Organizing Project (PROP), the candidates expressed their views on the NYPD quota system. stop and frisk, police harassment of the homeless and mentally, the unwarranted surveillance of Muslim communities, marijuana reform and police in the school system.
According to International Business Times, the first candidate to speak, Anthony Gronowicz of the Green Party went against Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Ray Kelly about the stop and frisk policy. He claimed it was only to intimidate Black and Latino youth and in turn called Bloomberg a monster which seemed to please the crowd. Gronowicz went on to state that New York City is the most unequal city in the United States.
Democratic candidate Randy Credrico also slammed Commissioner Ray Kelly on the NYPD’s stop and frisk policy, according to Business Times, he referred to Kelly as a modern day J. Edgar Hoover while calling the NYPD “a bunch of slave catchers, from Long Island on steroids.” He then went on to have a few stern words for his rivals saying Weiner’s support of the Patriot Act, twice, is what let to a surveillance state and Quinn has a history of supporting racist judges.
IBT states that Wiener,of the democratic party was yet another candidate to come down on NYPD’s stop and frisk. Weiner said he feels stop and frisk isn’t wrong, just the execution of it is. He also said that appointing a new police commissioner would lead to the changes needed to make the stop and frisk policy more effective. Weiner appeared relax and charismatic according to International Business times, as he discussed other issues including “the need to create a school safety division that is separate from the NYPD, putting resources into the communities where ex offenders return to society and preserving the middle class with the creation of new jobs”
Liu, also a democrat, expressed ways that the NYPD could be integrated into the communities in order to build trust. He also said, “stop and frisk was simply racial profiling.” Liu said prisons should give an opportunity for a second chance, that prisoners should receive job training and an education, according to International Business Times.
Democrat Christine Quinn was the last speaker of the night, She said she supports the idea to create an inspector general to monitor the NYPD and if a jury rules in favor of a lawsuit against stop and frisk and a federal monitor is appointed, then Quinn said she would work well with that person.
Democratic candidate Bill de Blasio, was absent.