What’s Next For Criminal Justice Reform? by Nick Reisman The ambush-style shootings of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu on Saturday were largely met with shock among New York’s elected officials. Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for calm after meeting with the Ramos family on Sunday. He did not answer a question on what the impact the officers’ deaths will have on his stated support for criminal justice reforms, which include putting body cameras on some police officers, increased transparency for grand juries and potentially a special prosecutor’s office to handle brutality cases involving the police. Instead, Cuomo said now is the time to honor the fallen officers. “Let’s bring the temperature down,” the governor said outside of the Ramos household. “Let’s have more dialogue, more reflection and less emotion in general.” Cuomo is ending the year with a powder keg of emotion in New York City, however, that had been building since the chokehold death of Eric Garner by a New York City police officer, Daniel Pantaleo. A Staten Island grand jury voted to no indict Pantaleo last month, setting off a wave of protests across the city and country, which had been compounded by a Missouri grand jury only days earlier not indicating a police officer in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. But the Ramos and Liu deaths appear to have galvanized a counter backlash to the protests, with supporters of law enforcement pointing to the rhetoric in the last several weeks as being anti-cop. Before taking his own life, the man who shot Ramos and Liu posted on social media that he was going to specifically target police officers in New York City. Republicans in Albany seemed to be in little mood to take up criminal justice changes, even as Cuomo calls for a “soup-to-nuts” review of the system. Now Republican state lawmakers have proposed legislation of their own, including requiring patrol cars have bullet-proof glass. The proposal from Assemblymembers Jim Tedisco, Nicole Malliotakis and Sens. Marty Golden and Phil Boyle would be paid for out of the state’s $5 billion surplus drawn from windfall financial settlements. “If it is good enough for high-ranking government officials and dignitaries to ride around in cars with bullet-proof glass, then it should be for our cops who put their lives on the line and are being tracked down and murdered like prey,” Tedisco said in a statement. “We are proposing state legislation to begin to retrofit all law enforcement vehicles in New York State with the best protective bullet proof glass for all windows.” Much of Republicans’ ire, meanwhile, was focused on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Police officers have felt criticized by de Blasio, who has said he is fearful of his son Dante, who is black, when it comes to interacting with law enforcement. The union was also angered when de Blasio used the word “alleged” to describe an assault on a police officer by protestors. Now outgoing Sen. Greg Ball, ever provocative, used the occasion take another swipe at de Blasio. “In a matter of months this Mayor has taken the city back nearly 50 years,” Ball said. “Today, our NYPD and other law enforcement and emergency responders have walking targets on their backs and are in grave danger. Mince no words. The Mayor is directly responsible for their safety or lack thereof. This Mayor brings all new meaning to ‘I didn’t know you could stack s— that high’. Don’t wait for him to act New York. Take peaceful and effective action now, and in the coming months, to hold him accountable. This man needs to go. Never forget.” And Republican former Gov. George Pataki, who is mulling a run for president in 2016, also knocked de Blasio via Twitter: “Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of #ericholder & #mayordeblasio.”
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 16:36:06 +0000
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