12 JUNE 18, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
City Hall must take reform order seriously
Governor Andrew Cuomo threw
down a heavy challenge for New
York City and other localities
across the NYPD: Reform your police
departments by April 1, 2021, or risk
losing almost all of your state funding.
Cuomo made the challenge through
an executive order amid calls to end
police brutality and racial injustice
made during the ongoing George Floyd
protests. Every county and municipality
has been charged to reform their police
departments and pass a law establishing
those changes over the next nine
months.
Why threaten to withhold funding
if the localities don’t comply with the
order? Cuomo explained this incentivizes
the cities and counties to do what he
believes must be done: Modernize and
reform each local police department
to better fi t the needs and wants of the
communities they serve — and help put
an end to the injustice and inequality
suff ered by people of color.
Cuomo not only put the ball squarely
in City Hall’s hands, but he also fl ipped
the hourglass over. New York City is
on the clock. What will Mayor Bill de
Blasio do now?
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Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio in a side-by-side address on March 2, 2020, about the fi rst
coronavirus case in New York City. Photo by Mark Hallum
We asked the mayor’s offi ce that question,
and the response was far from
inspiring.
They off ered no specifi cs on how
they’ll comply with the order, saying
only that they would work with the
state further. To us, that seems to miss
the points of the governor’s order and
related statements.
Cuomo has ordered New York City
to reform and overhaul, from top to
bottom, the largest police department
in the country, and to do so in consultation
with not just police offi cials but the
people the NYPD serves — politicians,
activists, protesters, public safety experts,
the general public.
If the city doesn’t want to change anything,
Cuomo said, that’s fi ne; they can
pass a law before April 1 affi rming that
the NYPD is working as is. But even if de
Blasio doesn’t believe the NYPD needs
reform, it’s clear that the vast majority
of the City Council wouldn’t agree with
him. Should the city fail to meet the
April 1 deadline, New York City will
lose millions upon millions of dollars
in state funding at a time when we need
every dime we can get.
De Blasio cannot aff ord to play political
football with the governor on
this one — nor can he ignore the calls
for signifi cant NYPD reform. No more
dithering or empty promises; it’s time
for de Blasio to get serious and take
action.
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