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City Council Committee Passes POST Act, Bringing Oversight to NYPD Surveillance

On Thursday morning, the New York City Council’s Committee on Public Safety passed the POST Act, a bill that creates civilian review of the NYPD’s wide-ranging digital surveillance.

The POST Act, which passed 12-1, requires the NYPD to publicly report and describe which surveillance techniques it uses, guidelines and policies surrounding the use of that technology, and what will happen with the data collected from digital surveillance.  More →

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Protesters, Politicians Testify About NYPD Brutality

Letitia James.

Witnesses are speaking out against violence committed by  the New York Police Department during over the course of three weeks of protests against police brutality. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James is conducting an independent investigation into the NYPD’s actions and has asked any member of the public with pertinent information to submit testimony, including video or photo evidence. The testimony started Wednesday and, due to a large number of people eager to speak out, continues today, June 18. More →

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Is the NYPD Capable of Reform?

(Photo: Erin O’Brien)

Since protests of police brutality and racial injustice broke out across the city in recent weeks, public calls to drastically reform and even defund the NYPD have resurfaced and intensified as police beat and tear-gassed protesters. Meanwhile, police unions have gone on the offensive, conceding almost no culpability for the escalation of tensions. Earlier this week, MTA Police Benevolent Association president Mike O’Meara angrily complained that police officers have been “left out of the conversation” about defunding.  But so far, they haven’t appeared willing to participate. More →

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Another Weekend of Protests Shows Black Lives Matter Movement Broadening

Service workers protested Thursday. (Photos: Erin O’Brien)

A third weekend of protests against police brutality in New York City saw some of the largest crowds to date,  with calls for action only intensifying in the wake of  the killing of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta on Friday, and the killing of two black trans women, Riah Milton in Ohio and Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fells in Pennsylvania. More →

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‘Make It a Little Kinky’: City Updates Its Viral Sex Advice

As New York was hunkering down for the Covid-19 pandemic on March 21, the city Department of Health released a statement advising New Yorkers on how to have sex while saying safe and healthy. The guide, which advised residents to abstain from rimming and to engage in virtual sex, circulated widely on social media. Now, as we’ve entered phase 1 of reopening and New Yorkers are looking to restart their romantic and sexual lives, the Department of Health has updated those guidelines. More →

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Have Police Been Illegally Seizing Protesters’ Bikes?

(Photo: Erin O’Brien)

Shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew on June 3, journalist Armin Rosen was following a protest that was making its way through Downtown Brooklyn. The NYPD had rushed the crowd a few times and made some arrests, but the demonstrators had continued peacefully until they got to Borough Hall. That was when the rain came. “It went from nothing to a monsoon in like 30 seconds,” Rosen recalled.  “It was just total confusion. There were people flipping and running into each other.” More →

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Will the Repeal of 50-a Expose the Full Extent of NYPD Sexual Assaults?

(Photo: Erin O’Brien)

In light of the contentious debate around defunding the police, Andi Zeisler wrote on Twitter June 4: “I’m seeing people ask things like ‘But if there are no police who will go after RAPISTS???’ and well I have some very bad news for those folks.” She then linked to an article about a 2013 study showing U.S. cops charged with more than 400 forcible rapes over nine years.  More →