Graphic Video Shows Repeated Assaults on Peaceful Demonstrators and Journalists by Police

http://www.aclu.org/human-rights/aclu-calls-president-obama-address-police-brutality-puerto-rico

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 10, 2011

CONTACT: Josh Bell, ACLU, (212) 549-2508 or 2666; This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it 



NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today called on President Obama to press Puerto Rican leaders about a pattern of police brutality and governmental suppression of First Amendment rights during his scheduled visit Tuesday to the U.S. commonwealth. In a letter sent today to the president, ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero highlights ACLU interviews that reveal systematic violations of freedom of speech, peaceable assembly and freedom from violence through police assaults on students, labor leaders, demonstrators, journalists and low-income, black and Dominican communities on a regular basis.

City cop claims lieutenant texted her racy photos but year after complaint probe drags on

BY SIMONE WEISCHELBAUM 
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, June 2nd 2011, 4:00 AM 

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/06/02/2011-06-02_nypd_dragged_its_feet_for_year_on_cops_sex_harrass_suit_vs_boss_i_feel_stuck__i_.html#ixzz1OQfM7dvE

A city cop claims a lieutenant texted her a photo of his penis and then put her on a foot post after she turned down his sexual advances, sources told the Daily News.

Officer Lisette Pedrosa, 39, filed complaints with the Internal Affairs Bureau and the Police Department's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity about a year ago.

Pedrosa says the NYPD has done nothing to squash the alleged sexual harassment, so she plans to file a lawsuit this month.

"I feel stuck," Pedrosa told The News. "I can't transfer out. I feel like I am being cheated."

Wall Street Journal

NYPD Stop-and-Frisk Activity on the Rise

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/05/31/nypd-stop-and-frisk-activity-on-the-rise/tab/print/ 

MAY 31, 2011, 5:12 PM ET

So-called ‘stop-and-frisk’ activity is on the rise, according to numbers released by city police, who this year recorded the highest-ever number of quarterly stops in which people were questioned and sometimes frisked.

From January 1 until March 31, New York Police Department officers filed 183,326 “stop, question and frisk” reports, a number that is up sharply over the same period a year earlier and the highest number recorded since the city began publicly releasing information on stop-and-frisk activity in 2004. The previous quarterly high was in the first quarter of 2009, when officers recorded 171,094 stops.

The NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy has come under fire from civil rights advocates because a small percentage of stops have led to charges. Data on stops show that blacks are disproportionately stopped by police.

For the first quarter of this year, 11,925 of those stopped were arrested and another 10,292 were issued criminal summonses, meaning that 12.1% of stops led to charges or arrests, a slight decline from the same period a year earlier.

** Please support this youth film festival, which includes several pieces regarding police violence.  PJ conducted a Know Your Rights training for some of the film-makers during their production process. 

NYC Film Festival Features Student-Made Documentaries Exploring Problems in Teen Lives

Gritty Dramas Aim to Provide Help for Young People dealing with Issues of Police Brutality, Drug Use and Peer Trust 

When:  Mon. June 6, 11am-2pm

Where:  Loew's Theater 34th St. Street 14, 312 W. 34th St. New York, NY 10001 (between 8th and 9th Aves.)

Youth producers from Satellite Academy, a New York City transfer highschool for overage and under-credited students, present thirteen new documentaries that inform other young people and the public about problems they face and possible solutions for addressing them.