Tag: NYPD
Bronx Defenders Statement on Passage of STAT Act and 50-A Repeal
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** Bronx Defenders Statement on Passage of STAT Act and 50-A Repeal June 9, 2020 CONTACT Ryan Karerat, The Bronx Defenders (RKarerat@bronxdefenders.org) (NEW YORK, NY) – Justine Olderman, Executive Director of The Bronx Defenders, released the following statement in response to the passage of criminal justice reforms in Albany, including the STAT Act […]
Politico: NYPD, de Blasio blame bail reform for crime spike as defenders question police stats
Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD reported a major spike in crime for the second straight month and doubled down on blaming the jump on bail reform — even as public defenders charged police may be manipulating the stats to push their agenda. Major crime jumped by 22.5 percent in February compared with the […]
The City: NYPD Stalls On Sharing Property Seizure Stats Required By City Law
Marventz Sulfradin didn’t know his date had a gun until police began pulling them over after they bought chicken nuggets and fries from a Brooklyn McDonald’s drive-thru in November. When the cops flashed their lights, the date, who was driving, pulled the firearm from his jacket, plopped it in Sulfradin’s lap and told him to […]
New York Post: NYC’s public defenders claim NYPD may be faking spike in crime
A decrease in the number of criminal cases city prosecutors are pursuing suggests that the crime spike recently reported by the NYPD could be a ruse to incite fear over criminal justice reforms, a coalition of public defenders said Tuesday. “Since the NYPD controls how, when, and where they arrest people and what they charge an arrested […]
Alice Fontier Presented Testimony at City Council Re: Int 0487-2018: Creating Comprehensive Reporting and Oversight of NYPD Surveillance Technologies
New York City Council Committee on Public Safety Re: Int 0487-2018: Creating Comprehensive Reporting and Oversight of NYPD Surveillance Technologies. December 18, 2019 Written Testimony of The Bronx Defenders By Alice Fontier, Managing Director, Criminal Defense Practice Over the course of a decade, the New York Police Department has adopted surveillance technologies as a central […]
Gotham Gazette: Facing Criticism, NYPD Reps Tell City Council Body Camera Program ‘A Work in Progress’
“Lenora Easter, team leader of the early defense team at the criminal defense practice of The Bronx Defenders, urged the Council to close a loophole that allows officers discretion to not turn on their cameras in exigent circumstances. She also pushed for increasing the “buffering period” on officer cameras – the two types of cameras […]
The Appeal: What’s Not To Love About The NYPD Slowdown?
“The Daily Appeal spoke to Alice Fontier, the managing director of the criminal defense practice at The Bronx Defenders. I asked Fontier about how the slowdown has played out in criminal court in the Bronx, one of the most heavily policed counties in the country. Over the last few months, Fontier said, there had been at […]
The Appeal: ‘Is This The Guy?’
“The NYPD also claimed that it was exempt from disclosing information about its facial recognition technology because doing so could imperil future investigations. It argued that because the department is only a user—not the creator—of the software, any disclosure would violate state protections of its partner’s trade secrets. Alice Fontier, The Bronx Defenders’s Criminal Defense […]
The Marshall Project: Your Arrest Was Dismissed. But It’s Still In A Police Database
“The lawsuit, which in the coming weeks may be ruled a class-action on behalf of potentially tens of thousands of New Yorkers, comes just as a nonprofit research organization releases a 50-state report revealing that in 25 states, police are allowed to access sealed or expunged arrests—and then profile you based on these past allegations that no […]
Gothamist: How A Sealed Arrest Can Get You Arrested In New York
“’There are a lot of cases where people were arrested or faced prosecution, and they were innocent,’ said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, from the Bronx Defenders. “We need to protect them, and we need to protect our values that people should be presumed innocent, and they shouldn’t face the consequences [of an allegation], unless it’s been […]