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Eleanor Bumpurs, Deborah Danner, and Finally Fixing Our Emergency Response


NYPD lights officer car

(photo: @NYPDnews)


Heartbreak and outrage at another deadly police shooting - this time concerning Deborah Danner, a 66-year-old woman with a psychiatric disability. Police, responding to a call about an "emotionally disturbed person," entered her apartment and when the woman became agitated and combative, an NYPD Sergeant killed her.

It is all achingly familiar. In 1984, Eleanor Bumpurs, who was also a disabled elderly black woman in the Bronx, was killed with twin shotgun blasts in similar circumstances.

In the wake of Bumpurs' death, which generated widespread outrage but no charges or discipline to the officers involved, the NYPD tightened its use of force rules and internal procedures. Since then police are only supposed to use deadly force if there is an immediate threat to someone's life.

In this case, reports indicate Danner was naked and holding a pair of scissors when police confronted her. The officer was able to get her to drop the scissors but she then allegedly threatened the officer with a wooden bat. While a bat can be a serious weapon, capable of causing real injury, this shooting could have been avoided - something both NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill and Mayor Bill de Blasio quickly said on Wednesday, the day after Danner was killed.

Officers knew that they were going to be confronting someone with schizophrenia. They had been there several times before. The sergeant who killed her had his standard issue Taser.

Why did the officer not use his Taser? The reason for issuing them was to avoid exactly this kind of tragedy. Did cops have a plan to keep things from escalating? Did they have a plan to manage the presence of a weapon? Did they have a plan for retreating if necessary to preserve life?

Commissioner O'Neill stated that this was a failed interaction. That admission is a refreshing break from past defensiveness by police leaders.

There has been a great deal of discussion about how to better train police to deal with these kinds of situations, and some new training has occurred. But the problem runs so much deeper. Former cop and now law professor Seth Stoughton has documented the ways in which the bulk of police training teaches them how to be "warriors" rather than "guardians."

They are constantly reminded that any encounter can turn deadly and that they must be ready to use force at any time. That it's "better to be judged by twelve than carried by six." This helps explain recent tragic police killings like those of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, killed in a park, and John Crawford, killed in a Walmart.

But the fact that police had to even be dispatched in the first place is a sign that something went wrong.

Health officials knew about this woman's condition. Neighbors reported that they had recently seen her taken away in a straight jacket. Why was she returned to her apartment without adequate ongoing supervision or care?

The mayor has acknowledged that there is a problem with community mental health care. A recent report by his wife, Chirlane McCray, identified many of the gaping holes in the system and outlined some plans for closing them.

Yet thousands of profoundly disabled people continue to roam the streets and subways or idle away at home with little or no support, leaving police to deal with the crises that inevitably result.

There are alternatives. A coalition of service providers, advocates and family members has spent years calling on the city to create "crisis intervention teams" made up of medical professionals who could respond to calls for help.

They are trained to deal with difficult and combative people without resorting to deadly force. They could also coordinate with a community-based case worker who would be aware of the person's condition and past interactions with authorities, allowing them to develop a plan for safely resolving the call. The Health Department has a few of these teams but they don’t normally respond to 911 calls.

The mayor said that an “ESU,” or emergency service unit, was on the way, and that officers should have waited for its arrival. While that surely would have been better, it is not the same as having a crisis intervention team as first responder to such an incident with a known mentally ill person.

Even if we civilianize much of the responses to these calls, police will still have interactions with this population. We need a change in police training and culture that goes deeper than a few hours of de-escalation preparation. The mayor was wrong when he said that current training is adequate and this was just the mistake of a single officer. Ultimately, police are the wrong people to be responding to a person experiencing a mental health crisis. Until we develop robust community-based mental health services, tragedies will continue to occur.

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Alex S. Vitale is associate professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and author of City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics. He is senior policy adviser to the Police Reform Organizing Project and serves on the New York State Advisory Committee to the US Civil Rights Commission. On Twitter @avitale.

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Steps for A Safer Corona, A Safer Queens, and A Safer City


ferreras 111 street

A rally for change on 111th Street (photo: @JulissaFerreras)


A few weeks ago, I joined over 100 parents and their children on the steps of City Hall to ask Mayor de Blasio to finally make 111th Street safer. After more than a year of waiting, and multiple rounds of community engagement, the Department of Transportation announced a new agreement Wednesday, and will move forward with the process to make these changes a reality.

For the tens of thousands of community members in Corona and the surrounding areas, safer days are finally in sight. And, this advocacy and progress are both a model for communities around the city where safety must be paramount.

For families in our neighborhoods, crossing 111th Street is too dangerous. Nearby 111th St are two elementary schools, an assisted living facility for seniors, and a playground for children with special needs. And, 111th Street will soon be the site of a large pre-K center near the Hall of Science. In addition, baseball and soccer leagues and other activities happen inside Flushing Meadows Corona Park every day.

In order to cross 111th, families must traverse 94 feet without a place to stop should they need to. They must cross five lanes, where cars routinely speed due to the wide road and general lack of traffic. This is unacceptable, especially given how important Flushing Meadows Corona Park is to our community. Tens of thousands of people use the park every week, and 111th Street has been a barrier to entry for too long. DOT has rightly designated the corridor as a Vision Zero priority.

Improving 111th Street has been a priority for this community for a long time as well, with proposals to change the street dating back decades. This issue comes as no surprise considering the street’s history. Built during the first World’s Fair by Robert Moses, the street was designed to be a grand entrance to the lavish festival, conceived with only cars in mind. Needless to say, the 111th Street of Robert Moses’ time is long behind us and it is currently an obstacle to safely enjoying one of the city’s largest green spaces. In the decades since the fair, it has served to draw a clear line between a community and its park. Today, people walk, push strollers, bike, and drive across and down 111th Street. The agreement will update it to the changes over times and create a safer future.

Specifically, DOT’s recently released agreement will reduce pedestrian crossing distance by 50%. It will add 14 median extensions to give pedestrians a place to stand while crossing. It will create a parking protected bike lane. It will reduce traffic by one lane on each side. And, contrary to many other proposals of its type, it will add 20 parking spaces. These are substantial improvements that I have demanded alongside parents and residents of Corona and I hope will soon be in place. But they are not complete, and I will continue to work with the DOT to make 111th Street even safer, particularly by installing more crosswalks.

I call this an agreement because it is supported by a wide cross section of the community, including Congressman Crowley, Queens Borough President Katz, and Assemblyman Moya. We have done substantial community engagement to get input and DOT has updated the plan to reflect that feedback. There will be additional opportunities for engagement to learn why these changes are critical. But we should not wait to make them a reality. Families have waited too long.

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City Council Member Julissa Ferreras-Copeland represents the 21st Council District in Queens, serving the neighborhoods of Corona, Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, LeFrak City and parts of Jackson Heights. On Twitter @JulissaFerreras.

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New York’s Young Adult Unemployment Crisis Needs A Strategy


NYCEDC pic students tour

Students on a tour (photo via NYCEDC)


Starting one’s adult life in poverty and without a job has serious long-term economic consequences that negatively impact future job prospects, earnings, and wealth. Young people are scaling one of the toughest jobs cliffs in recent memory, and the situation is a looming threat to economic growth in our state. We need to combat New York’s young adult unemployment crisis with a robust strategy, and now.

One analysis found that a young person who is unemployed for six months can expect to earn $22,000 less over a ten year period. Here in New York, more than 400,000 unemployed 16-to-24-year-olds are looking for work. This could lead to a potential loss of about $8.8 billion in earnings to young adult New Yorkers over the course of the next decade.

According to the 2015 American Community Survey, New York’s young adult unemployment rate is 15 percent, and for young adult New Yorkers of color, it can be as high as 25 percent. That’s more than 10 and 20 percentage points higher than older adults, respectively. Relatedly, more than 13 percent of 16-to-24 year olds in New York are out of school and out of work altogether. On top of high unemployment, the state’s young adult poverty rate is 22 percent, 10 percentage points higher than for older adults.

High unemployment only exacerbates growing economic inequality. Wages and incomes already stand at lower levels for this generation than older generations when they were young adults. Worse, today’s job market increasingly requires a postsecondary credential or qualification, and along with it, the possibility of student debt.

By 2018, at least 62 percent of jobs will require some college, 28 percent of jobs will require only a high school credential, and just 10 percent of jobs won’t require a high school credential. For the most disadvantaged and disconnected young adult New Yorkers, this puts access to a decent job—and with it a financially secure life—even further out of reach, threatening our state’s economic security and shared prosperity.

Unfortunately, despite the unmet demand for a trained workforce and high young adult unemployment, a real statewide youth jobs strategy is missing.

Young Invincibles, the youth advocacy organization for which I am Northeast Director, is releasing a report in the coming weeks analyzing the Urban Youth Jobs Program. The program currently represents the state’s single largest youth jobs investment in New York State, authorized to spend $50 million annually. Our report finds that despite this massive investment, the tax credit program inadequately addresses the need to develop the skills of young adults that would better connect them to meaningful careers.

That’s why Young Invincibles, along with more than a dozen other partners across the state, is calling on the Labor Committees of the New York State Assembly and Senate to hold a joint public hearing to review the Urban Youth Jobs Program and begin the public policy process to develop a real young adult jobs strategy.

There are proven, evidence-based solutions to these issues, but like with any adversity, we must have the political will to tackle our challenges head on and embrace those answers. A public hearing is one way we can start needed conversation about how to respond to the modern-day economic challenges young adult New Yorkers face.

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Kevin Stump is the Northeast Director for Young Invincibles, an advocacy and policy organization working on higher education, health, and jobs issues impacting 18-34 year olds. YI is also a part of President Obama's College Promise Task Force. On Twitter @KevinStump and @YoungInvincible.

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