Commissioner Bratton keeps his word to reform the NYPD and improve relations with the Community by retraining his officers, weeding out corruption and working with students and the Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council through the “Rap 2 Bridge the Gap” initiative.
About 4 weeks ago the Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council met with NYC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to discuss how we could improve relations and “Bridge the Communications Gap” between the NYPD, students, young adults and the community. Since the death of Eric Garner in Staten Island, which was captured on camera for the world to see, the relationship between law enforcement agencies and the community have reached an all time low.
Since that incident many others have also come forward to share their nightmare experiences with the NYPD. Some of these encounters have also been caught on camera adding fuel to the fire. In addition, the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; the Walmart killing of a man by a police officer; the gas station shooting in South Carolina; and a host of other shootings that have resulted in the wounding or death of a Black Man. It had reached a point that for weeks all you would hear in the news is the shooting and/or killing of a Black Man by a police officer.
With all this going on Commissioner Bratton knew that something drastic had to be done to gain the public’s trust after all, he is the head of the largest and best-trained police department in America. An agency that has been recognized the last several years for helping New York become the safest “Big City” in the country. So in a historic move the Commissioner took his efforts to “Police the Police” to another level by telling a room full of his high ranking officers during an event at the new Police Academy in Queens that there were racist and untrustworthy officers on the force that had to go because they were disrespecting the uniform and the majority of good officers who were abiding by the policies.
Stated Commissioner Bratton “We will aggressively seek to get those out of the Department who should not be here. The brutal, the corrupt, the racist, the incompetent. There are some in the organization who shouldn’t be here. They’re not the right fit for the NYPD of 2014.”
This type of straight language from such a high ranking member of any Police Department in the country has never been publicly expressed before and will go down in history as a “Brave, Bold Step by Bratton” to rid the Department of the few bad apples that stain the reputation of all the good officers that are doing the fair and honest thing every day to keep our communities safe. It is our hope that other Commissioners around the country will follow his lead and recognize that we are living in a new digital age and having individuals on the force that have a Klu Klux Klan or Adolph Hitler attitude towards minorities is not healthy for police/community relations and public safety. It is this type of mentality that jeopardizes the safety of law enforcement officers who are putting their lives on the line every day. It’s just not fair because at the end of the day we all want our police officers to return home safe to their families so they can return to work the next day and keep our communities safe. This is a WIN/WIN for all and only works when there is a mutual trust between both parties because more crimes are solved with the public’s support.
The Commissioner said he wanted to clean up the house and has shown us that he is truly a man of his word. The community needs to be just as bold and step up to the plate and give him all the support he needs to solve crime and end corruption within the Department and our communities. The Commissioner will take some heat from those that are living a foul life at the expense of tax-paying dollars, but the Hip-Hop Community applauds and commends him for not being afraid to tell those that are not abiding by the rules they have to clean up their act or leave the greatest Police Department in the world. The brand and integrity of the Department has too much value to be high jacked by a few officers who are not interested in improving public safety, nor the quality of life in poor and disadvantaged communities in NYC.
To tell 34,000 officers that there is no room for racism and the type of behavior that has destroyed the public’s trust takes someone that is on a mission to protect the people, as well as clean up a negative way of policing by some that has been festering for decades. We can turn the NYPD around with the help of the community, the “Eye in the Sky,” Video and Cell Phone Cameras, and a Police Commissioner tough enough to go against the grain to improve the Department’s image and protect those officers that are living in accordance to the oath they swore.
When we met with the Commissioner we told him about our “Rap 2 Bridge the Gap” project and how we had successfully launched the initiative in 2013 with former Commissioner Ray Kelly. The purpose of the project is to improve relations in the schools and communities between students and young adults by bringing all parties together to discuss what needs to be done to establish a new level of respect and trust between all parties. He briefly looked over the project and told the top brass in the room that there was no need to reinvent the wheel and that we should move forward to implement the initiative for the 2014/15 school year. He told us that it is important for him to do whatever it takes to regain the public’s trust and if this was a project that could contribute to his mission we would roll up our sleeves and move forward. The program is slated to launch later this month so stay tuned for details for the project coming to your school, community, or Public Housing Development.
We also spoke about the “Broken Window’s” policy and the retraining of his officers and he told us that he was working with the Mayor to address the policy and would be making some bold moves to reshape a culture that has compromised the integrity and reputation of the Department. Well, we are happy to report that yesterday’s announcement is the first step towards cleaning house at the agency. This is not going to be an easy task, but with the support of the public we can all get this done. Change and reform starts at the top and Commissioner Bill Bratton has shown us that he has the leadership skills, integrity, and “Take no Prisoners” attitude to finally make the NYPD an agency the pubic can trust, love and respect once again.
Shoutout to Chief Royster, Dep. Chief Murtaugh, Chief Jaffe, Edna Wells Handy (Counsel to the Commissioner), Asst. Chief Conroy, Janet Fitzpatrick, Det. Martin Brown, Lt. Celiba, Director Ramon Garcia and the crew.
