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Bratton Slammed by City Council for “Broken Windows” Report Dismissal

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The dispute over the “Broken Windows” policy in New York City again reared its head when New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was criticized by three City Council members on Friday June 24th for dismissing a report that questioned the effectiveness of the policy

The policy known as “broken windows” used by police departments to maintain law and order in major cities dictates that police officers crack down on minor and low-level offenses to prevent larger crimes from occurring. Its an idea that was first adopted by the the New York City Police Department and has been copied by police departments in cities all across the country. Its effectiveness has long been controversial as community leaders and others have criticized the policy as being too unnecessarily aggressive towards minorities, without any real effect on preventing crime. The NYPD especially has been the target of numerous complaints about the policy.

The dispute over the “Broken Windows” policy in New York City again reared its head when New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was criticized by three City Council members on Friday June 24th for dismissing a report that questioned the effectiveness of the policy. While New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had supported the Broken Windows policy in the past, he’s been under continual pressure to maintain peace between the New York City Police Department and progressive city council members and politicians who oppose it. The specific report the Police Commissioner dismissed revealed that aggressive policing and punishment of minor offenses did not lead to any decreasing of major crime in New York city, which goes against Commissioner Bill Bratton’s entire professed practice of how he feels New York City can best be policed.

Brad Lander, Vanessa Gibson, and Jumaane Williams, the three City Council members in question stated that they were “disappointed yesterday with the Police Commissioner’s quick dismissal of the IG’s [Inspector General] report as ‘useless’, and the mayor’s support of that statement.”

The Council members then encouraged the mayor and commissioner to reconsider their dismissal of the report and look closer at it is so they could, “figure out what they can learn from it.” However Police Commissioner Bratton disregarded any notions of reconsidering the policy and instead declared that he and Mayor de Blasio are on “exactly the same page” as far as the Broken Windows stratagy, that they are in fact, “joined at the shoulder and hip.”

The New York City Council has acted as a checks and balances system in the past between police commissioners and city mayors who have favored them. Jumaane Williams and Brad Lander themselves supported the 2013 law that created the Inspector General of the NYPD (who was cited on the report Police Commissioner Bratton disregarded.) The creation of the Inspector General of the New York City Police Department was passed as a law, despite a veto from then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The office of Inspector General reports to the Department of Investigation, not the Police Department. The office is the author of the crime analysis report in question.

The city council has made previous efforts to counteract the perceived over-zealousness of the “Broken Windows” policy with the passing of bills aimed at creating softer penalties for minor offenses and entreating the NYPD to show more restraint for such offenses. However, the bills were weakened after mediation, with the New York City Police Department keeping their right to arrest and issue criminal summonses even in cases where the crimes were minor.

Another attempt by City Council members Jumaane Williams and Brad Lander to check the Broken Windows policy is their sponsorship of the Right-to-Know Act. This act would have required police officers to not only identify themselves but to also let people know of their individual rights to refuse any searches that may lack probable cause. The Right to Know Act has been dormant for the last two years as committees have failed to pass it.

Anat Ghelber

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