NEW YORK—Outside the New York City Police Department (NYPD) headquarters on Tuesday, members of Picture the Homeless (PTH) accused the police of harassing the homeless by issuing excessive “disorderly conduct” charges.
They delivered a giant “dis-con” ticket to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly for supervising the “shameful offenses against low-income people’s quality of life,” according to a PTH press release.
“A society whose judicial system is based upon the presumption of innocence must not permit its police department to infringe upon the civil and legal rights of the law-abiding public,” said state Sen. Eric Adams, a former police officer, in a statement.
“The power of law enforcement to stop, question, frisk, and even detain citizens deserves the most careful scrutiny and the most rigorous oversight. The police must never accost an individual without bona fide probable cause. The police must never harass a citizen merely because of his or her living status. The police must never threaten, or coerce, or violate the civil rights of a New Yorker with a vague disorderly conduct charge merely because he or she is homeless.”
Homeless and formerly-homeless PTH members testified about their experiences with the police. They said that they often received disorderly conduct charges for offenses such as being near a bottle in a park or putting a package on an empty subway seat.
Individuals arrested for charges such as “disorderly conduct” face consequences such as losing their possessions, losing their shelter bed, or employment after a jail stay, a mark on their criminal record, or disqualifying their eligibility for public housing.
In addition to “ticketing” Kelly, the activists handed out pamphlets to passersby and marched to City Hall to make their voices heard by elected officials.
PTH is seeking a legislative response that would require the police to specify the actual law-breaking conduct before issuing the charge and to stop arresting the homeless for minor “offenses.”
“We need community pressure from below asserting our human rights and demanding that our civil rights be respected, and we need action from our representatives at City Hall and in Albany,” said PTH member Jean Rice. “When the mayor and police commissioner place some above the law and some below it, it renders all New Yorkers less free.”
Photo Caption(s) & Photo Location(s)
They delivered a giant “dis-con” ticket to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly for supervising the “shameful offenses against low-income people’s quality of life,” according to a PTH press release.
“A society whose judicial system is based upon the presumption of innocence must not permit its police department to infringe upon the civil and legal rights of the law-abiding public,” said state Sen. Eric Adams, a former police officer, in a statement.
“The power of law enforcement to stop, question, frisk, and even detain citizens deserves the most careful scrutiny and the most rigorous oversight. The police must never accost an individual without bona fide probable cause. The police must never harass a citizen merely because of his or her living status. The police must never threaten, or coerce, or violate the civil rights of a New Yorker with a vague disorderly conduct charge merely because he or she is homeless.”
Homeless and formerly-homeless PTH members testified about their experiences with the police. They said that they often received disorderly conduct charges for offenses such as being near a bottle in a park or putting a package on an empty subway seat.
Individuals arrested for charges such as “disorderly conduct” face consequences such as losing their possessions, losing their shelter bed, or employment after a jail stay, a mark on their criminal record, or disqualifying their eligibility for public housing.
In addition to “ticketing” Kelly, the activists handed out pamphlets to passersby and marched to City Hall to make their voices heard by elected officials.
PTH is seeking a legislative response that would require the police to specify the actual law-breaking conduct before issuing the charge and to stop arresting the homeless for minor “offenses.”
“We need community pressure from below asserting our human rights and demanding that our civil rights be respected, and we need action from our representatives at City Hall and in Albany,” said PTH member Jean Rice. “When the mayor and police commissioner place some above the law and some below it, it renders all New Yorkers less free.”
Photo Caption(s) & Photo Location(s)
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