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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dina Paul Parks
212-337-0005, x11
Haitian Coalition to Hold Timely Town Meeting on New York City Police
Community Relations
NEW YORK, February 28, 2002 -- As Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police
Commissioner Raymond Kelly begin to set new policies for the next four years, what role
will community policing play, and where do police and community relations stand with
the new administration? These and other questions will be the focus of
"Finding A Common Agenda: The Police and the Community", a
pre-planned, two-hour symposium organized by the National Coalition for Haitian Rights
(NCHR) to be held from 6 to 8 pm on Wednesday March 13, 2002 at the Walt Whitman
Building on the Campus of Brooklyn College.
"While NCHR has been planning this event for several months, we are struck by its
timely nature, given the announcement this morning that the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals has overturned the convictions of three of the four police officers tried in
the August 1997 Abner Louima police brutality case," said Dina Paul Parks, NCHR's
Acting Director. "This ruling re-opens many wounds, and this symposium will provide
all of us with the perfect opportunity to address its impact. With a new
administration in place and this fresh reminder of the issues at play, it is an
opportune time to take stock of what progress may or may not have occurred, as well as
proactively address the challenges that remain and continue to impede a constructive
relationship between our community and the NYPD."
Panelists for the forum include Norman Siegel, former Executive Director of the New
York Civil Liberties Union, Basil Wilson, Provost at John Jay College of Criminal
Justice, Vladimir Rodney, an attorney in private practice and a high-level official
from the New York City Police Department.
The symposium will look at some of the police procedures that were implemented after
the Louima case, as well as the deaths of Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond and Georgy
Louisgene. It will also discuss overall police and community relations and civil
liberties, particularly in the wake of the Sept. 11th attack on the World
Trade Center.
The evening will conclude with panelists revealing specific recommendations they
believe will improve community police relations. Such recommendations can provide key
support to the various efforts that NCHR has undertaken over the past several years to
foster a stronger and healthier relationship between the community and the NYPD.
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