*** Just another reason why we need Cop Watch ***

NYPD Caught on Tape Beating Fans at Hip-Hop Release Party

by Jorge Rivas, Friday, July 1 2011,1:30 PM EST

Read more:  http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/07/another_nypd_police_brutality_case.html

Early morning Wednesday, a hip-hop CD release party in New York’s Lower East Side ended with the arrests of nearly half a dozen patrons, and at least five reported injuries to police officers. The incident has rocked New York’s legendary hip-hop community, with allegations flying that police brutalized patrons and then arrested some of them. 

Party-goers at the Smif-n-Wessun and Pete Rock CD release party say the event inside the club was peaceful up until NYPD showed up. Five people were arrested and charged with, among other things, riot, assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. 

Tyranny in NYC: The NYPD's Wasteful, Ineffective, Illegal, and Unjust Targeting of Blacks andLatinos

By Robert Gangi, AlterNet
Posted on June 9, 2011, Printed on June 13 

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/151260/tyranny_in_nyc:_the_nypd's_wasteful,_ineffective,_illegal,_and_unjust_

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been the focus of much public criticism in recent months. Elected officials and editorial writers have expressed concern and outrage over matters ranging from the city’s response to snow storms to the appointment of Cathie Black as the city’s Education Chancellor to the payroll scandal at the city’s Department of Employment. A policy area where the mayor has mainly escaped criticism and where it is long overdue is a truly objectionable practice of the Police Department, namely our city’s wasteful, ineffective, unjust, illegal and starkly racially biased arrest methods.

Wasteful

The vast majority of arrests in New York City are for low-level offenses, such as misdemeanors like possessing a small amount of marijuana or violations like selling umbrellas or flowers on the street without a license. By any criteria, almost none of these activities could be considered dangerous or predatory. At worst, most city residents would view them as public nuisances.

Police officers and other criminal justice personnel -- judges, court officers, district attorneys, public defenders and correction officers -- spend hours every day, if not their whole workday, processing these cases. And these law enforcement officials are preoccupied with these seemingly insignificant cases day after day, week after week, month after month and so on.

According to the Drug Policy Alliance, just one category of arrests -- for possessing, not selling, small amounts of marijuana -- costs New York City $75 million per year.