The Shooting of Mt. Vernon Basketball Star shows the need for Comprehensive Gun Laws in New York State

Mt. Vernon Basketball Star Isaiah Cousins

The Shooting of Mt. Vernon Basketball Star shows the need for  Comprehensive Gun Laws in New York State

The resent shooting of Isaiah Cousins, a Mt. Vernon basketball star echoes the need of controlling the influx of illegal weapons in our communities in Westchester County and the state of New York.

It is clear that we simply can not "arrest" ourselves out of our current crime problem. There must be a comprehensive change in the mindset of the people. To achieve any sustainable reduction in crime, our elected officials must engage in an aggressive plan to identify and promote programs that provide meaningful assistance for families in need. This is especially critical to those families with children to prevent the youth from growing up being/feeling neglected and joining on to so-called gangs and engage in criminal actives. The offender of tomorrow is often the at-risk child of today whose needs are not being addressed. 

As Law Enforcement Professionals, we have found it is easier for youth to get an illegal weapon than a legal job in many urban cities in Westchester County. Illegal weapons in the Black community has become more American than Apple Pie.

It is unfortunate that our County Executive Rob Astorino is standing firmly on a platform to repeal the SAFE Act in New York in his campaign for NYS Governor. What will Astorino's message be to the Cousins family and many other families that have lost children to gun violence in New York? What fundamental right do our young and elderly have to feel safe walking the streets?

As a national organization of Law Enforcement Professionals, we demand our elected officials to fight for the fundamental rights of innocent people like Isaiah Cousins and not be cowards to gun enthusiast, gun lobbyist and the NRA.


Damon K. Jones

Blacks In Law Enforcement of America 

The Correlation Between Crime, Violence, and Poverty in Westchester County

The Correlation Between Crime, Violence, and Poverty in Westchester County by Damon K Jones

Carl Bell's firing as Mount Vernon top cop draws outrage at council meeting

The firing of Mount Vernon Police Commissioner Carl Bell by Mayor Ernie Davis continues to be a hot-button issue in the city nearly a month after Bell was let go.

Damon Jones, a Mount Vernon resident and the head of the Westchester chapter of Blacks in Law Enforcement, criticized Bell's termination as he addressed the City Council during its meeting Wednesday.

"How are we going to fire a commissioner who is holding officers to accountability?" he asked. "There are some police officers that are out of control."

He said the victims of police brutality are African-American.

"The only people they're abusing are people who look like us," he said.

Davis, who has sole responsibility over the police commissioner, has refused to comment on why Bell was fired -- an issue that Samuel Rivers questioned.

"An answer from the mayor that he doesn't discuss personnel matters is not good enough," Rivers said.

None of the council's five members addressed Bell's firing. Council member Roberta Apuzzo, the head of the City Council's Public Safety Committee, said she was "looking forward to having a dialogue" with Jones.

"I've been around here since 1986, and we've had 12 police commissioners. Something's wrong with that equation," City Council President Yuhanna Edwards said.

Jones said he plans to write letters to the Department of Justice's civil rights division about police abuse of Mount Vernon residents.

In a Monday letter to Mount Vernon city Attorney Nichelle Johnson, Jones said the organization would continue to question the motive behind Bell's firing.

"This has completely jeopardized the process of accountability and transparency in the Mount Vernon Police Department," Jones said.

Several members of the police force are under investigation by the FBI and U.S. attorney's office for possible ties to gang members, Newsday reported Feb. 22. Sources familiar with the investigation said the probe was in its preliminary stages and was not focused solely on officers from any one race or any particular hometown.

FEDERAL PROBES

Davis, who is the target of a separate federal probe into his finances, has said he knows nothing of the Police Department probe. Sources have said that Davis and Bell have been kept in the dark about the police investigation.

Bell, who is taking time off before deciding his next career move, told Newsday he appreciated the support he has received from Mount Vernon police officers and city residents since he was fired.

"It's nice to know there are people who appreciate the job I did," Bell said. "But I'm looking forward, not looking back."

Davis fired Bell on Feb. 19, ending Bell's 2 1/2-year tenure as commissioner. The firing came after a year in which shootings and homicides spiked in Mount Vernon and relations between Davis and Bell -- who was appointed in August 2010 by Davis' predecessor, Clinton Young -- deteriorated.

The mayor on Feb. 28 appointed Richard Burke as deputy police commissioner. Burke -- a former Mount Vernon police lieutenant who retired in 1994 after 21 years with the force -- will run the 205-member Police Department until a commissioner is named.

Sources said that Davis' first choice for the commissioner's job is former Mount Vernon Police Officer Terrance Raynor, who heads the 35 investigators of the Westchester County district attorney's office.

Raynor attended Burke's swearing-in March 1 and said afterward he had not applied for the job. He didn't give a direct answer when asked whether he was interested in the post.

Last year, there were 10 homicides and more than 20 shootings in Mount Vernon. Only two arrests have been made in the homicide cases. The 10 killings surpassed the combined total of the previous two years.

BLEA Letter to Mt. Vernon Corporation Council Questioning the City's Oversight of Law Enforcement

As a National Organization of Law Enforcement Professionals, we question the failed actions of the city of Mt. Vernon for oversight and accountability of the actual documented actions, complaints and lawsuits of officers of the Mount Vernon Police Department that have violated the City of Mount Vernon’s and the Mount Vernon Police Department’s code of conduct and are still currently working the streets of Mt. Vernon.

Letter to the City of Mt. Vernon Corporation Counsel

Dozens gather to protest the firing of Mount Vernon Police Commissioner Carl Bell

MOUNT VERNON — A small group of residents and community activists gathered in front of City Hall on Friday to protest the ouster of Police Commissioner Carl Bell and demand an explanation for why he was fired.

Damon Jones of the group Blacks in Law Enforcement of America organized the rally and decried Mayor Ernest Davis’ decision to fire Bell, who had held the post since July 2010.

“He tried to straighten up a police department that really had no accountability,” Jones said of Bell. Instead of enjoying the mayor’s support in that effort, Jones said, Bell, who was fired Tuesday afternoon, “was being undermined.”

Bishop William Ewell, a minister at the nearby New Hope Cornerstone Apostolic Church, described the departed commissioner as “a hands-on commissioner (who) really pushed the department forward.”

Davis has not publicly explained why he dismissed Bell. In a brief exchange in City Hall with a reporter, the mayor said, “I don’t comment on personnel matters. You should know that.”

The mayor’s finances and business interests and several nonprofits he founded are being investigated by federal authorities. Several of the protesters outside City Hall said they found the timing of Davis’ decision to fire Bell suspicious.

“Is this because you have the feds — you’re on their radar?” said Nazarine Duncan, a Mount Vernon resident who has worked to raise awareness about the violence plaguing the city. “To me, it looks like he’s trying to take the light and shine it on somebody else.”

Duncan’s two children survived an attack by a gunman two years ago. Bell was largely responsible for bringing their attacker to justice, she said.

“To me, he (Davis) had no justifiable reason why he fired him,” Duncan said. “We are owed an explanation.”

Citing the federal investigation, Ewell said, “In the midst of those things, I feel this was the wrong time to fire the police commissioner.”

In an interview this week with The Journal News, Bell said he had tried to raise the standards of the city’s police force and “instill some structure.”

He said his attempts to discipline officers who misbehaved were undermined by the mayor’s meddling. Bell said the mayor told him he didn’t understand politics.

Davis has not said whom he will choose to replace Bell or when he will make that appointment. For the time being, Deputy Commissioner Reginald Ward is overseeing the Police Department.