Last Thursday, the commanding officers of the NYPD’s 72nd and 78th Precincts held a meeting with members of Safe Slope and Hollaback!, convened by New York City Councilmember Brad Lander, to directly address our open letter to the NYPD. We discussed the range of concerns presented by area residents around police sensitivity.
The commanding officers agreed that it is entirely inappropriate for officers to imply that women, because of how they are dressed, bear responsibility for being attacked, and have reinforced this to their officers. Additionally, the NYPD agreed to the following improvements:
● Effective immediately, police officers will provide a “trigger warning” to community residents before showing them a graphic assault video (being shown in an effort to identify the attackers). By giving the individuals the ability to opt out, the NYPD is acknowledging the sensitive nature of viewing attack footage, especially for victims of sexual assault or others who may be triggered by watching violent actions on film.
● Effective immediately, police officers will make women aware that they are being escorted home by the police before starting to follow them. This will help avoid confusion and fear that the individual following them home may be a potential attacker.
● Concerned community groups, including Safe Slope and Hollaback!, will draft an updated safety pamphlet for NYPD consideration, which will include community resources and helpful tips on what community members can do to help keep themselves and others safe from sexual assault. The purpose of the updated pamphlet is to provide officers with sensitive and consistent educational messages to share with the public. Inspector Pintos will present the pamphlet through channels to NYPD leadership with the authority to approve materials for public distribution. If approved by NYPD leadership, this pamphlet will be made available to the public in both English and Spanish.
● Lastly, the NYPD will similarly review a proposal from Safe Slope to do sensitivity training at the police orientation, as well as to show an educational video to existing officers prior to their shifts. The purpose of the video is to provide officers with simple strategies to make their interactions with the community more sensitive and educational regarding sexual assault.
Safe Slope is grateful that Deputy Inspectors Pintos and Argenziano are willing to listen to the community’s concerns and needs regarding police response to sexual assault. We are also appreciative of Councilmember Lander’s willingness to facilitate this type of dialogue in our community.
However, these issues are not isolated to our community. In fact, our call for increased sensitivity training was backed by the support of over 6,000 individuals and several citywide organizations who signed a petition on Change.org over the past week. As such, we hope this type of collaboration between concerned community groups and the NYPD will serve as a model for other communities throughout NYC.
We would like to thank those of you who shared your concerns with us. Because we know that these practices don’t represent all officers and that the NYPD seeks to make these improvements, we encourage you to continue to speak up if you encounter an officer breaking these agreements. You can help us let the NYPD know by writing down an officer’s badge number and reporting an incident to us (safeslope@gmail.com) or directly to the Precinct.
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