I recently watched the film “Crime + Punishment” which documented twelve NYPD officers struggle to fight crime and a system designed to profit off of it. It followed the group known as the NYPD12 as well as investigators and wrongly accused citizens and their families while they all fight for justice. The film had moments of pure craziness (a cop gets put on a foot post merely because he appeared on TV saying that quotas existed on the force) to pure blasphemy (a LT. tells an officer that he is happy he will get his needed arrest for the month after Commissioner O’Neill again stated that quotas should not be used). The film was honest, timely and also a step towards the solution, but not thee solution. Here are my key takeaways:
1) Quotas do exist
Whether we like it or not, NYC factors in criminal activity (real or imagined) into its annual budget. As such, the NYPD is used as an agent to write summons, arrest people and generate the activity needed to fund part of our city budget. The practice is sickening, but when it is coming from the top down, it helps you understand why policing has become what its has in NYC and other cities that follow a similar model.
2) Morale is low
To begin with the NYPD isn’t necessary attracting Rhodes scholars, so the fact that the force has low morale makes it much more dangerous for NYC’s citizens. Many of the bad cops in NYC come from families of like minded individuals with outdated views on neighborhoods and residents of those neighborhoods. The NYPD is the only city agency that does not mandate its employees live within the 5 boroughs. This breeds a lack of mutual respect and heightens stereotypes put out by certain news publications.
3)Community policing is a flawed concept
You cannot force officers to engage the most vulnerable of citizens of NYC and then expect the citizens or the officers to like each other. This new PR campaign to improve community police relations only works if the police serve as a resource and not an occupying force. You cannot have police breaking up card games and engaging law abiding citizens for the sake of numbers, and then expect the citizens to revere the police.
4)Its public image does not meet the reality of the NYPD
The copwatch groups and online videos showing wrongful arrests and rogue police are not as far-fetched as Bill Bratton famously said they were a few years ago. Cops still drive around with hidden badges, bent up license plates and unmarked cars in hunt of new victims fo the prison industrial complex. Until we as citizens make a point to take back our political power and demand accountability, many innocent citizens will fall victim to the NYPD revenue generation machine. What’s worse is that the crime in neighborhoods like the South Bronx and Brownsville is hyperscrutined and highly televised so as to skew public opinion into thinking that additional police activity is needed in these neighborhoods. Do we really think nothing happens in a city of 8 million people? Is all illegal activity really confined to 8-10 neighborhoods? Surely, we don’t believe that do we?
5) The spillover effects are real
Although the majority of wrongful arrests are plead out, dismissed or somehow adjucated, innocent people build false arrest records that make them appear to be criminals. They also have to spend money and time fighting charges which can affect their education and employment status. At some point, we have to put people in political position to fight these forces and allow us to reclaim our neighborhoods and lives.
Be sure to check out C + P on Hulu
blm, crimeandpunishment, featured, nyc, nypd
Related posts
Comments RSS Feed