Bloomberg: Police stop minorities ‘too little’

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/06/28/bloomberg-police-minorities-stops/2474261/

• The comment sparked criticism from activists and politicians
• Police Commissioner Kelly said separately that 90% of New Yorkers killed or shot are minorities
• A federal lawsuit is ongoing over ‘stop and frisk’ procedures

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday that police “disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little” as compared to murder suspects’ descriptions, sparking criticism from activists and some politicians in a city that has been immersed in a debate about law enforcement and discrimination.

Speaking on his weekly WOR-AM radio appearance, Bloomberg echoed an argument he has made before: that the stops’ demographics should be assessed against suspect descriptions, not the population as a whole. But coming a day after city lawmakers voted to create a police inspector general and new legal avenues for racial profiling claims, the mayor’s remarks drew immediate pushback.

The measures’ advocates accused the mayor of using “irresponsible rhetoric,” some mayoral hopefuls chastised him and some City Council members said his remarks only emphasized the need for change.

“Our mayor’s comments prove he just doesn’t get it,” said Councilman Robert Jackson, who co-chairs the council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus.

Bloomberg spokesman Marc LaVorgna said the critics were “fabricating outrage over an absolutely accurate comment.”

“What they should be outraged by is the number of minorities who are being killed and that successful police efforts to save minority lives are being hampered,” he added.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly noted separately Friday that more than 90% of people killed or shot in the city are black or Hispanic.

The police tactic known as stop and frisk has become a high-profile political issue in the city, where stops have soared during Bloomberg’s three terms. He and Kelly say the stops are an invaluable policing aid and have helped cut crime rates dramatically, while critics say the street stops humiliate many innocent people and are unfairly focused on minorities.

Those complaints have prompted a federal lawsuit over the stop and frisk practice and were part of the impetus for the City Council’s vote Thursday. Bloomberg reiterated Friday that he’ll veto the legislation, which he says will impede policing. They passed with enough votes to override a veto, but the mayor has noted that he plans to keep pressing his case with lawmakers.

About 5 million stops have been made during the past decade. Eighty-seven% of those stopped in the last two years were black or Hispanic. Those groups comprise 54% of the city population.

Bloomberg says that comparison isn’t appropriate.

The racial breakdown of those stopped is “not a disproportionate percentage of those who witnesses and victims describe as committing the murder. In that case, incidentally, I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little,” he said Friday on “The John Gambling Show.”

More than 90% of suspects in killings in the last two years were described as black or Hispanic, according to city officials.

“The cops’ job is to stop (people in) the groups fitting the description. It’s society’s job to make sure that no one group is disproportionately represented as potential perpetrators,” Bloomberg said earlier in the show.

The group Communities United for Police Reform called Bloomberg’s view misinformation, noting that most stops aren’t spurred by suspect descriptions. Police department records of the stops also list such reasons as “furtive movements” or suspicious bulges in clothing.

“Mayor Bloomberg should cease with the irresponsible rhetoric and seek to work with the council on a constructive path forward,” said Communities United for Police Reform spokeswoman Joo-Hyun Kang.

Public Advocate and mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio sent supporters an email rapping Bloomberg’s remarks, while fellow contender and City Comptroller John Liu issued a statement calling them “insensitive, outrageous, and just plain weird.” Rival and former City Comptroller Bill Thompson, who is black, termed Bloomberg’s comments insulting and called on him to apologize.

“What he seems to indicate to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been unnecessarily stopped and frisked is, ‘We’re sorry we didn’t stop more people,'” Thompson said.

Bill would make annoying a cop a felony

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/bill-would-make-annoying-a-cop-a-crime

Annoyance would have to accompany physical contact

Updated: Wednesday, 05 Jun 2013, 9:10 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 05 Jun 2013, 2:38 PM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. (WIVB) – A bill currently making its way through the State Legislature would make it a crime to annoy a police officer, a move that could have far reaching consequences.

The State Senate passed the bill Wednesday that makes it felony to “harass, annoy, threaten or alarm” an on duty police officer by subjecting them to any physical contact.

A press release from the NYS Senate originally stated, “The bill (S.2402), sponsored by Senator Joe Griffo (R-C-I, Rome) would make it a felony to harass, annoy, or threaten a police officer while on duty.” However, as the bill is written, a person would be guilty of aggravated harassment of a police officer if he or she subjected that officer to physical contact with the intent to “harass, annoy, threaten or alarm” that officer.

The bill was sponsored by local Senators Pat Gallivan, George Maziarz and Michael Ranzenhofer, as well as Senator Joe Griffo (R) of Rome.

Griffo stated, “Police officers who risk their lives every day in our cities and on our highways deserve every possible protection, and those who treat them with disrespect, harass them and create situations that can lead to injuries deserve to pay a price for their actions.”

Anyone found guilty under the bill, should it become law, could face up to four years in prison.

The bill is now on its way to the State Assembly.

The exact language of the bill follows. You can also find it online here.

Riots grip Stockholm suburbs after police shooting

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22622909

Rioters have lit fires and stoned emergency services in the suburbs of Stockholm for the third night in a row after a man was shot dead by police.

Incidents were reported in at least nine suburbs of the Swedish capital and police made eight arrests.

On Sunday night, more than 100 cars were set alight, Swedish media report.

Police in the deprived, largely immigrant suburb of Husby shot a man dead last week after he reportedly threatened to kill them with a machete.

The founder of a local youth group told Swedish media the riots were a reaction to “police brutality”.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told reporters on Tuesday that Sweden would not be intimidated by rioters.

‘Opportunistic’

On Tuesday night, cars were torched in western and southern Stockholm, and stones were thrown at police officers and firefighters. One area affected, Rinkeby, saw similar rioting in 2010.

Kjell Lindgren of the Stockholm police told Aftonbladet newspaper that the unrest had spread from the original rioting in Husby.

“It feels like people are taking the opportunity in other areas because of the attention given to Husby,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Reinfeldt said: “We’ve had two nights with great unrest, damage, and an intimidating atmosphere in Husby and there is a risk it will continue.

“We have groups of young men who think that that they can and should change society with violence. Let’s be clear: this is not okay. We cannot be ruled by violence.”

More than 80% of Husby’s 12,000 or so inhabitants are from an immigrant background, and most are from Turkey, the Middle East and Somalia.

Mr Reinfeldt said the situation in the district had been improving in recent years, with more jobs being created and a falling crime rate.

‘Monkey’ slur

However, local people accused the police of racism.

Rami al-Khamisi, a law student and founder of the youth organisation Megafonen, told the Swedish edition of online newspaper The Local that he had been insulted racially by police. Teenagers, he said, had been called “monkeys”.

He said the crowd was reacting to a “growing marginalisation and segregation in Sweden over the past 10, 20 years” from both a class and a race perspective.

Justice Minister Beatrice Ask said anyone who felt mistreated by police should file a report.

An investigation is under way into the shooting of a man, 69, last Monday after police were called out to a home in Husby where the man was allegedly brandishing a machete.

Police say they tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with the man after learning a woman was inside the flat along with him. They then stormed the flat.