What Would Police Accountability Look Like?

Join Us For 2 Trainings

12/04/10, 2-5pm:  Know Your Rights:  basic info about your rights when approached by the NYPD and what you should do if your rights are being violated

01/15/11, 2-5pm:  Cop Watch:  how do build Cop Watch teams and legally monitor police activity in your neighborhood)

Both trainings will be held at the Center for Constitutional Rights, 666 Broadway, 7th floor (N/R/W to 8th St. or B/D/F/V to B-way-Laf. St.)

Who Should Attend?

• groups of 3-5 who wanna start Cop Watch teams
• folks who wanna learn about their rights when approached by the nypd (esp. poc, youth, immigrants*, trans and queer folks.)
• folks who are tired of experiencing police violence in their neighborhoods  
• folks who wanna plug into PJ's work
• lawyers and other folks who wanna help hold the NYPD accountability to NYC communities
• folks who wanna talk to their communities about the issues they face

Daily News, Aug. 26^th,2010

By John Marzulli

An NYPD cop whose wife called 911 for help against a gang of thugs says he was brutally beaten by baton-wielding fellow officers who stormed his Queens home.

Larry Jackson suffered a broken right hand and multiple bruises from kicks and billy-club blows he said he got from the men in blue called to his home when a gunman menaced guests at his daughter's birthday party.

"To get my butt beat like that was unnecessary," said the six-year veteran assigned to the 110th Precinct. "We called the police, and this is what happened tome."

"I'm shocked, angry and disappointed," said the 6-foot-3, 300-pound Jackson.

Prosecutors and the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau are probing his claims.

His hand in a cast, he met with the Daily News on Wednesday and lifted his shirt to show the scars from Sunday's early morning confrontation. Jackson, who is black, said the excessive force by the cops, who were white, might have been racially motivated.

"They didn't treat me like a house-owner calling for help," he said. "Everyone who lives in the 113th Precinct is not a perp."

Investigators from IAB took a DNA sample from Jackson on Wednesday and told his lawyer, Eric Sanders, it was for testing against the cops' batons, which have been confiscated.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Jackson "was injured as a result of a dispute at the party." A spokeswoman did not return a call for further comment.

Jackson's wife, Charlene, made a 911 call around 1:15 a.m. Sunday as her unarmed husband faced down thugs armed with a gun and bats who showed up as partygoers started leaving his home in Rochdale.

"I told the 911 operator it's my daughter's 21st birthday and my husband is a police officerand there's a young man with a gun," she said.

"Who do we call now?" said Charlene Jackson, a city bus driver. "It's very hurtful to know you can't trust the police officers in your neighborhood. I feel like the 113th Precinct is our enemy."

Larry Jackson, wearing an apron with the slogan, "I'm the chef and I'm awesome," said he did not identify himself to the street thugs as a cop - but was able to convinc ethem to leave.

They were slinking off when the first patrol car from the 113th Precinct roared up and a sergeant got out. Charlene Jackson said she tried to tell the sergeant what happened when her niece yelled from the house that there was a fight inside.

The sergeant's driver ran inside and struck a friend of the family with his baton, the Jacksons said.

The sergeant then pushed Larry Jackson with his baton, they said, and when Jackson grabbed the sergeant, another cop began choking him from behind.

Jackson was knocked down and fell on his 82-year-old mother-in-law who briefly lost consciousness, he said.

"I'm covering my face and getting hit everywhere," he said. "Then somebody pepper sprayed me."

The couple said cops hit at least six family members and friends with batons. Their step son, a cousin and a nephew were charged with disorderly conduct. Larry Jackson's gun and badge were taken and he was placed on modified duty.

"What's most disturbing is there were supervisors on the scene who did nothing," said Sanders of the Law Firm of Jeffrey Goldberg in Lake Success.

Tired of police harassment and abuse in your neighborhood?  Wanna make a difference?  

Find out how you can support PJ's work on the ground through our Cop Watch Network, Know Your Rights educational campaign, Public Arts Campaign and fundraising efforts.  Join us for our first Volunteer Open House:

When:  Wed. July 28th, 2010, 7pm

Where:  105 E. 22nd St. Rm 4a (R, W & 6 trains to 23rd Street) 

For more info email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

By Al Baker

Published May 12, 2010 

Blacks and Latinos were nine times as likely as whites to be stopped by the police in New York City in 2009, but, once stopped, were no more likely to be arrested.

Themore than 575,000 stops of people in the city, a record number of what are known in police parlance as "stop and frisks," yielded 762 guns.

Of the reasons listed by the police for conducting the stops, one of those least commonly cited was the claim that the person fit the description of a suspect. The most common reason listed by the police was a category known as "furtive movements."

Under Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, the New York Police Department's use of such street stops has more than quintupled, fueling not only an intense debate about the effectiveness and propriety of the tactic, but also litigation intended to force the department to reveal more information about the encounters.