WASHINGTON, April 25 (RIA Novosti), Lyudmila Chernova – The New York Police Department is infamous for harassment and racial discrimination against people of color, the President of Communities United Against Police Brutality told RIA Novosti, commenting on a recent Twitter campaign launched by NYPD.
“NYPD is notorious for harassment and racial profiling of people of color. If the police departments of most major cities and even many small communities tried a similar campaign, I am sure there would be similar results,” Michelle Gross said.
She added that police brutality has been a national epidemic in the US for several years.
“The history of policing starts with the patterollers, who captured escaped slaves, and the pinkertons, private security guards who worked for the bosses to put down union organizing through violent means, including murder. People of color and poor people have always experienced abuse at the hands of police,” the expert said.
“What has changed is the ability for people to quickly share their experiences to a wider audience, which is forcing many people to recognize the problem we have,” he added.
“The failed NYPD Twitter campaign demonstrates that the public will no longer be silent about widespread abuses of the police department,” Gross said.
According to Gross, citizens of New York’s boroughs used the Twitter campaign as an opportunity to put a face on what some say is rampant abuse by the city’s defenders.
Gross also underlined the advent of social media as a means of exposing police brutality and misconduct cannot be overstated.
“For years our organization and many others have engaged in copwatch – videotaping police actions to hold police accountable, but we were very limited in our ability to share this information. Now, people can share their stories widely and the actions of problem officers can be easily exposed,” she said.
Earlier this week, the NYPD launched the campaign intending for it to serve as a way for people to share their photos with police officers. The department promised to post some of them on its Facebook page. Instead of feel good stories, within hours, Twitter was flooded with pictures depicting police brutality.
