Protesters delivered petitions
with almost 1,000 signatures to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus
Vance, Jr. in an August protest against
police "Stop & Frisk" tactics.
He had the highest approval
ratings of any citywide elected or appointed official, with a whopping 65%
giving his job performance a thumbs-up. Some 25% thought he was not doing a
good job.
Hours after a Quinnipiac
University poll was released showing a majority of New Yorkers supporting the
creation of an inspector general for the New York Police Department, Democratic
mayoral candidate Bill Thompson unveiled his public safety platform.
He opposes the inspector
general proposal currently before the City Council.
Speaking at John Jay College of
Criminal Justice, Thompson said he wanted an inspector general "inside the
police department." The current bill, he said, would put the inspector
general "astride the department, between the commissioner and the
mayor."
"In effect, it creates a
second police commissioner," and would be "dangerously blurring the
clear lines of authority critical to public safety," said Thompson.
Thompson, the only black
candidate in the race, also said, "Nobody has to lecture me about the
indignity of stop-and-frisk or blacks and latinos under this administration. I
live with it."
Last month at a candidate
forum, City Comptroller John Liu said he felt sorry for Thompson's 15-year-old
step-son, who is black and therefore statistically much more likely than a
white teenager to be stopped and frisked. Liu then asked Thompson to "join
me" in calling to end the policy.
Thompson reacted strongly, and
said that eliminating stop-and-frisk wasn't the way to protect his step-son.
Both Thompson and Liu had
previously expressed support for the current inspector general bill, but both
now oppose it. Another Democratic candidate, former councilman Sal Albanese,
opposed it when it was introduced. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio support the bill, which is strongly opposed by
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.
According to Qunnpiac, voters
support the idea of an NYPD inspector by 66-25 percent. Among Democrats, the
numbers are 72-19 percent, and among blacks, the margin is even greater, 78-13
percent.
Interestingly, voters are split
as to whether the new inspector general's office will make the city more safe:
43 percent say it will, and 43 percent say it will make no difference. Among
Democrats, those figures are 49-40, and among blacks, it's 51-38.
In response to an audience
member's question, Thompson said the inspector general bill "is really in
response to stop-and-frisk. And the response to stop-and-frisk doesn't need an
I.G. It needs a mayor who is going to accept accountablity and responsibility
for stopping the way it is being used."
Other initiatives Thompson
announced today: a plan to hire more police officers and flood high-crime areas
with veteran officers. Currently, under the NYPD's Operation Impact, rookie
officers are sent to those hot spots.
Thompson also said he wanted to
return to a "community policing" model in which more officers patrol
neighborhoods by foot. Thompson said he would also bring police and local
residents together in order "to pressure drug dealers out of the drug
trade.