STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In light of the protests surrounding the death of George Floyd around the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday called for two city representatives to conduct an independent review of actions on both sides of the protest.
The two representatives are James “Jim” Johnson, the leader of the city Law Department, and Police Commissioner Margaret Garnett.
Said de Blasio: “There are changes we have to make. There are changes we will make in this city, and we should make in this country."
Previously, both the mayor and Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for an independent review of actions by police officers by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Protests have broken out across the city and the nation in response to the death of George Floyd, who died Monday in Minneapolis after officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin has since been fired, and arrested and charged in Floyd’s killing.
According to Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, about 350 protestors were arrested and more than 30 members of the NYPD were injured Saturday evening.
De Blasio commended police officers, stating that many showed “tremendous restraint.”
“Think about the countless different points around the city [and] the thousands and thousands of NYPD officers that were deployed,” the mayor explained. “When you add up how many things were happening ... it says something about the NYPD that there was no loss of life, no major injuries.”
However, there was property damage to private and public property that the mayor said was dealt with in a timely matter.
“We are not going to fix the missed opportunities since 1967 to get this right as a nation," said Johnson. "I want to get this investigation right, and perhaps make a contribution to what we need to do within our society.”
Garnett added, “I want to be clear that where [appropriate police action] was not the case, we rightly have a higher standard for the police, who are given tremendous power and we rely on to protect us.”
DE BLASIO CALLS FOR PEACEFUL PROTESTS
During the press conference, de Blasio described New York City as “a sanctuary for protests” and an exemplary city in enacting change.
However, he explained that those protests should be peacefully organized to cause real change, relating back to activists Dr. Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi.
“No place in America has honored protests more than New York City," he touted. “However, the x-factor here is a different kind of a small set of people who came to do violence."
De Blasio said that protests will be respected and police should not have to interfere if they remain peaceful.
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THREE CHANGES DE BLASIO PROMISES
The mayor announced three major changes that he hopes to bring to policing policy in New York.
First, he called upon the state government and Gov. Cuomo to repeal and replace Civil Rights law 50-A, which shields police disciplinary records. Cuomo said on Saturday that he would “sign the bill today” if legislature presented it.
Second, the mayor hopes to amplify screening of new officers, ensuring only those who exemplify what the NYPD stands for, become police officers.
Finally, there may be a shift in police leadership.
“There are some people in positions of leadership in a community or some officers on the beat who just don’t fit the work needed in that community for whatever reason and unfortunately have a history of tensions with the community,” said de Blasio. “We can’t have that. Not everyone fits every role. That’s true in the NYPD and that’s true in all of life. We need to do a better job of hearing the concerns of community leaders when they say someone is not working out in our community, in our precinct, and we need a change. And I pledged to work with the community leaders to make those changes in the weeks ahead.”
NO CURFEW OR MILITARY SUPPORT
As cities around the world created a curfew to attempt to stop rallies and violence, the mayor explained that New York City would not be enacting a curfew on it’s citizens.
“No plan for a curfew,” he said firmly during the press conference. “We find a way, in this most complex of places, to work things out, even if it’s imperfectly.”
PUBLIC ADVOCATE CRITICIZES OVERWHELMING POLICE PRESENCE
Despite Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Shea commending NYPD for their actions during the last few days of protests, the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, criticized police for creating what he deemed “unnecessary tensions.”
Peaceful protests should never be met with walls of police officers, Williams explained during a separate Sunday morning press conference.
“Heavy police presence will not ease discomfort,” he said. “The mayor saying policing is appropriate is not okay.”
Williams said he is calling on New Yorkers, and specifically politicians, to act proactively instead of reactively.
“If we don’t look at the root of the problem, then we’re being cyclical,” he explained. “George Floyd was the last drop of water in the bucket.”
PROTESTS AND CORONAVIRUS
While recent headlines have started to draw away from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic for the first time in months, de Blasio and Williams reminded New Yorkers that the virus is still very much alive.
“When you’re out there, it doesn’t feel like people are remembering there is a pandemic,” said de Blasio. “Just a few days ago, the only thing we were talking about was a pandemic.”
The city is still under the stay-at-home order and isn’t expected to enter Phase 1 of reopening until June 8.
Williams explained that officials would need to pay attention to potential spikes in the next seven to 10 days due to the large gatherings.
The mayor said that the combination of unrest from being at home and George Floyd’s death created “a perfect storm” to make these protests “overwhelming.”
Williams and de Blasio both said they believe there has been inequality in healthcare.
“You have all the frustrations about injustice combined with frustrations about injustices within the pandemic... which displayed immense disparity, combined with the fact that people spent two months cooped up indoors,” de Blasio explained. “There is an extra level of frustration.”
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