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Showing posts with label westchester county. Show all posts
Showing posts with label westchester county. Show all posts
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Mt. Vernon Community Demanding Formal Investigation of Mt. Vernon City Government Illegally shutting down local Businesses
Friday, May 30, 2014
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
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Westchester Coalition for Police Reform Calling fo Oversight from Rob Astorino
Police-involved deaths in Westchester have attracted considerable media and public scrutiny in recent years. As a Democratic society, we value life, liberty and security of the person as core values worthy of constitutional protection. When government officials interfere with these core values, the call to publicly account for that interference is understandably very significant.
In
Westchester, we have seen our share of questionable police involved assaults and deaths. The victims families have continued to request independent investigations from our District Attorney Janet Difiore to no avail. time line of police incidences in Westhchester How many more deaths shall we hear about without our elected official realizing that there is a problem? When our District Attorney is quoted saying an officers use of the "N" word was a diversionary tactic, where is the outcry for change from our community leaders, elected officials and Black Clergy?
As we celebrate the work and birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. , would he be silent in the face of this kind of injustice? The time is now for our county elected officials to act in some form of oversight of its 43 municipalities and training of its officers.
What does it say to communities like Mt. Vernon where a police officer can cost a city over a million dollars in civil lawsuits and hes put back in the streets to patrol the same people he was found guilty in a court of law of abusing? Have Mt. Vernon elected officials forgot that these same people pay taxes that pay this officers salary? read here
What does it say to the African American residents when a Police Officer can call the President the N word, wish for his assassination and continues to patrol the streets where many African Americans may shop, eat at restaurants or do business? read here
The issue of whether some form of oversight is appropriate may have been settled from the public's viewpoint. Three-fourths of the largest cities in the United States have established some form of law enforcement review. The recent election of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had an police oversight political platform has shown that many voters feel the need of some type of oversight of law enforcement. These actions represent a de facto public finding that oversight is an appropriate response to the problem of law enforcement malpractice.
Clearly, developing community-especially minority community-confidence that law enforcement will be held accountable for its actions is important in and of itself. It is a cold reality that many minority citizens in Westchester lack confidence in internal review and any investigations of police misconduct from the District Attorneys office.
Without trust in law enforcement accountability in Westchester, racial tensions have risen, with tragic consequences for the community. Even a review system perfect in an administrative and legal sense would be problematic for its municipality if the community did not believe in its integrity. We believe, as Democrats, a system of law enforcement policy and procedure review systems in Westchester can be part of the larger effort of community policing, leading to greater acceptance of the legitimacy of the review.
As Independent Democrats, we question the silence of our own Democratic party in Westchester concerning the continuous deaths and physical abuse of black, brown, yellow and poor citizens at the hands of rouge law enforcement in Westchester County. “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it” – Martin Luther King Jr.
In
Westchester, we have seen our share of questionable police involved assaults and deaths. The victims families have continued to request independent investigations from our District Attorney Janet Difiore to no avail. time line of police incidences in Westhchester How many more deaths shall we hear about without our elected official realizing that there is a problem? When our District Attorney is quoted saying an officers use of the "N" word was a diversionary tactic, where is the outcry for change from our community leaders, elected officials and Black Clergy?
As we celebrate the work and birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. , would he be silent in the face of this kind of injustice? The time is now for our county elected officials to act in some form of oversight of its 43 municipalities and training of its officers.
What does it say to communities like Mt. Vernon where a police officer can cost a city over a million dollars in civil lawsuits and hes put back in the streets to patrol the same people he was found guilty in a court of law of abusing? Have Mt. Vernon elected officials forgot that these same people pay taxes that pay this officers salary? read here
What does it say to the African American residents when a Police Officer can call the President the N word, wish for his assassination and continues to patrol the streets where many African Americans may shop, eat at restaurants or do business? read here
The issue of whether some form of oversight is appropriate may have been settled from the public's viewpoint. Three-fourths of the largest cities in the United States have established some form of law enforcement review. The recent election of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had an police oversight political platform has shown that many voters feel the need of some type of oversight of law enforcement. These actions represent a de facto public finding that oversight is an appropriate response to the problem of law enforcement malpractice.
Clearly, developing community-especially minority community-confidence that law enforcement will be held accountable for its actions is important in and of itself. It is a cold reality that many minority citizens in Westchester lack confidence in internal review and any investigations of police misconduct from the District Attorneys office.
Without trust in law enforcement accountability in Westchester, racial tensions have risen, with tragic consequences for the community. Even a review system perfect in an administrative and legal sense would be problematic for its municipality if the community did not believe in its integrity. We believe, as Democrats, a system of law enforcement policy and procedure review systems in Westchester can be part of the larger effort of community policing, leading to greater acceptance of the legitimacy of the review.
As Independent Democrats, we question the silence of our own Democratic party in Westchester concerning the continuous deaths and physical abuse of black, brown, yellow and poor citizens at the hands of rouge law enforcement in Westchester County. “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Friday, April 5, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
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.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
PRESS VIDEO: Danroy Henry death: Judge expresses skepticism of lawyer's argument to dismiss claims against Aaron Hess
WHITE PLAINS — A federal judge overseeing civil cases filed after a Pleasantville police officer shot and killed Danroy Henry Jr. expressed skepticism earlier today of a lawyer’s arguments to dismiss some claims against Officer Aaron Hess.The hearing turned testy at points, as U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas took Brian Sokoloff, a lawyer for Hess, to task. Sokoloff argued that some claims against Hess made by a plaintiffs’ attorney, Bonita Zelman, were overly broad and lacked evidence.
“You can’t just make stuff up,” Sokoloff said.
But Karas warned the lawyer that he may be wasting his time, since Hess is named in several other parts of the suit.
“I would give that some thought before you ruin your summer,” the judge said.
Meanwhile, Zelman said a Department of Justice review of the case would wait until later.
“They are awaiting our taking Aaron Hess’s deposition,” Zelman said.
With a hearing about to get underway in the courthouse, a couple dozen protesters gathered outside this morning claiming that officer Aaron Hess should assume responsibility for the clashes that occurred after the shooting Oct. 17, 2010.
“Because of his actions that night, he is responsible for the actions of the other cops,” said Damon Jones, representing the group Blacks in Law Enforcement. “The students are suing Hess because his actions caused the chain of events that caused the abuse of the rest of the students.”
He was joined by several students and their lawyer, Bonita Zelman, who accuse officers of violently thwarting their efforts to aid Henry as he lay dying on the pavement.
Hess was cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the shooting,
Nine lawsuits have been filed in connection with the shooting. Hess fired into Henry’s Nissan as the 20-year-old sophomore football player drove away from a fire zone outside Finnegan’s Grill in Thornwood.
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