Crisis Intervention Teams, Unarmed Traffic Patrols, Would Make Suffolk Policing Safer, More Fair

 

Thanks to this virtual world we now inhabit, going to the meeting about policing in Suffolk County was so easy that about 90 people showed up Nov. 4, the day after Election Day.  Everyone got an earful of interesting ideas to make people safer, as well as some deeply felt criticism of police culture as still gripped by white supremacy.

This is what a discussion about “defunding the police” actually sounded like.

 It was the second such session held since Oct. 27, with six more to follow before Christmas. Anyone can register to just listen or talk.

Although it was intended to focus on the 2^nd police precinct in Huntington, speakers were not limited to only Huntington matters.

Terrell Dozier, of Long Island United To Transform Policing and Community Safety spoke of the entire county when he maintained that there are two traffic systems here: one for whites and another for Blacks and Hispanics. He said training is not the answer, calling instead for structural changes: use of more unmanned traffic control systems like speed cameras, speed bumps, better road design; and replacing armed police with unarmed civilians to enforce traffic laws. An installment payment system for traffic violation fines, and a sliding fee scale would be helpful, he said. 

Of course, a major allegation is that traffic stops are a result of police bias.  Helen Boxwill, co-chair of the Huntington Anti-Bias Tax force, quoted from the 2014 Department of Justice Consent Agreement that Suffolk County signed. It called for an annual analysis of traffic stops to determine racial and ethnic disparities. An analysis of data from 2018 to 2019 by the Finn Institute for Public Safety was released recently—the first since the consent agreement was signed.  

It found that Black drivers were three times as likely to be searched, either the driver or the vehicle, as whites who were stopped. Blacks were more likely to be restrained, ticketed or subject to use of force than whites, the study also found, while it was less likely that police would find contraband in stops of Blacks than in stops of whites. Despite these findings, the report concluded there was "no evidence" of racial or ethnic bias in traffic stops. This was based in part of a "veil of darkness" theory that during the daylight Black drivers would be stopped more often than at night. 

Helen criticized the Finn Institute as lacking objectivity, and called on the county to end its relationship with the organization. She said the time has come "for the DOJ Agreement to be codified” into law by the county legislature. 

Several other speakers focused on how mentally ill, addicted and homeless people can be helped when they are in a crisis without getting involved with the criminal justice system. Jayette Lansbury from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Huntington, argued for non-police teams of independent first responders. These teams would be expert in de-escalation. A representative of Long Island Untied for Police Reform said the group has developed a proposal for creation of such teams and offered to provide it to the county. The Family Service League’s Dash Program was mentioned as a model for such teams. It includes a mobile response unit operating 24/7, a dedicated phone number and specialists.

 Aaron Johnson, a teacher from North Babylon, spoke about a police culture whose underlying ideology, he believes, is white racism. “Police protect white neighborhoods, but they are an occupying force in our neighborhoods,” he said. The slogan “Blue Lives Matter” came as a reaction to “Black Lives Matter,” and that’s racist he said.

 The listening sessions are part of Suffolk County’s response to a state mandate to re-imagine and reform policing, with the goal of presenting a plan to the county legislature by spring next year. The task force for the project is co-facilitated by Vanessa Baird-Street, a Deputy County Executive and Jon Kaiman, also a Deputy County Executive.