Police Accountability

We represent people immediately after they have encountered the police, many times after they have been targeted, abused or harassed by members of the New York City Police Department. We have witnessed police lying in court and in official documents so frequently that advocates have coined the phrase “testilying.” Even after these instances of misconduct are exposed, officers generally remain on the job with the power to continue perpetrating abuses against the people of New York. The NYPD is the size of the seventh largest army in the world, with a budget of $11 billion per fiscal year. This number does not include additional expenses such as civil lawsuit payouts for people harmed by police or the slush fund for clandestine surveillance technology. Every dollar spent on policing is a dollar not spent on schools, jobs, food, housing, parks, playgrounds, mass transit, or any initiatives that improve community safety and the quality of life for residents of this City. We work tirelessly to both expose police abuses and to advocate for policies that prioritize people over punishment.