18 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 24, 2022 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Cabán warns constituents of
mayor’s anti-gun police unit
BY JULIA MORO
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Council member Tiffany Cabán has
been vocal about her staunch opposition
to Mayor Eric Adams’ reinstatement
of the anti-gun police unit that
was disbanded in 2020 due to concerns
over its constitutionality, saying it will
do more harm than good.
The mayor is bringing back the controversial
plainclothes police unit —
a special anti-crime force with officers
on the ground in neighborhoods
across the city dressed in modified
uniforms — to root out gun violence.
Adams announced in a press briefing
last week that officers from the
plainclothes unit will be dispatched
throughout four precincts in south
Queens — the 101st, 103rd, 105th and
113th — and in the 114th Precinct in
Astoria as well.
Cabán commented on the mayor’s
“Blueprint to End Gun Violence” saying
some aspects of the plan are crucial,
like stronger investments in the
preventative Violence Intervention
Program. However, the councilwoman
said the proposed
plainclothes unit
should not be implemented,
having failed
to prevent gun violence
in the past and proved
to be “notoriously violent”
themselves.
“It is particularly
important in my
district,” Cabán said.
“We had the highest stop and frisk rates
in all of Queens in 2019. We have a
large and ever-growing Arab and north
African, Muslim community
in a post-
9/11 world.
These units
really target,
over
surveil, harass and harm our Muslim
neighbors, as well as Latinx and
African American communities.”
Cabán said she relies on the data to
best determine what works for her
community — and the data does
not favor the plainclothes
unit.
A 2018 study by The
Intercept found that members
of the plainclothes
unit were involved in 31%
of fatal police shootings
in New York City. Several
high-profile killings in the
city involved members of
this anti-crime unit, like
Eric Garner, Sean Bell and
Saheed Vassell.
Th e police force played a
big part in the stop-and-frisk
era, a largely criticized practice
for targeting young Black
and Latino men across the city,
which did little to actually lower
crime rates. According to
the New York Bar
Association, at
the peak of stop-and-frisk, close to
700,000 stops were made but only 6 percent
resulted in arrests and 2% in recovery
of weapons. Th e report also found
that 85% of those stopped were Black and
Latino and overwhelmingly male.
Instead of reverting back to our old
ways, Cabán said the city needs to prioritize
investments in the Violence
Intervention Program, which partners the
NYC Health Department and local nonprofi
ts in providing community-based
outreach to prevent crime.
“We need to look at this crisis as a public
health crisis,” Cabán said. “We need
to invest more in violence prevention,
expanding the crisis management system,
rapidly scaling up all the organizations
that do Cure Violence work. Th ey
have proven track records of success and
quite frankly, have been more eff ective at
reducing violence.”
Cure Violence organizations provide
services that tackle the root causes of
crime, which stem from inequity, inaccessibility
to resources or a lack of general
support. Some services provided include
free self-defense courses for youth, substance
abuse prevention, addiction recovery
services, fi nancial literacy support,
confl ict mediation strategies and aft erschool
programs.
In 2020, the Queensbridge Houses,
which was once the city’s public housing
complex with the most shootings, went
an entire year without a single shooting
due to the intervention of a nonprofit.
A John Jay College of Criminal Justice
study found that the South Bronx experienced
a 37% decline in gun injuries and
a 63% reduction in shooting victimizations
due to the Cure Violence program’s
intervention.
Th ough the mayor’s plan has received
lots of pushback, Adams has defended
his policy, assuring critics that there will
be no racist, targeting tactics used in his
police force.
“Public safety is my administration’s
highest priority, which is why we will
remove guns from our streets, protect our
communities and create a safe, prosperous
and just city for all New Yorkers.”
Th is time around, offi cers will be wearing
body cameras and “identifi able” clothing.
Th ey will also undergo training and
vetting, according to the mayor.
Photo by Megan Magray
Council member Tiff any
Cabán has been vocal
about her staunch
opposition to Mayor
Eric Adams’ reinstatement
of the anti-gun
police unit that was
disbanded in 2020
due to concerns over
its constitutionality,
saying it will
do more harm than
good.
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