S27 Rally for NYPD Accountability and Community Safety Act
DRUM – DESIS RISING UP & MOVING and COMMUNITIES UNITED FOR POLICE REFORM
RALLY IN SUPPORT OF THE COMMUNITY SAFETY ACT!
Communities sick and tired of stop-and-frisk abuses, surveillance of Muslim communities, targeting of low-wage workers, unlawful “gender checks” and searches by the NYPD came together to demand police accountability and oversight through passage of the Community Safety Act.
DRUM leader, Naz Ali, spoke at the rally on behalf of DRUM and MACLC (Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition), and after the rally, several DRUM leaders joined CPR in lobbying their City Council members to sign on to the bills.
Photos by Sabelo Narasimhan
This landmark legislation if passed by the NYC Council would, for the first time in New York City’s history:
- ban police profiling based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, as well as age, housing status, immigration status, disability (including HIV status), along with race, religion and ethnicity – and put some teeth behind the ban;
- ensure that consent to searches where no other legal basis exists for the search is real, informed, and voluntary;
- require police officers to identify themselves and explain the reason for a stop; and
- establish an independent Inspector General’s office to track and act on patterns of discriminatory policing.