Many parents were very worried about the New York City police presence in our public schools when Mayor Bloomberg brought in the NYPD troops as his allies in 2003 to enhance school security. Bloomberg believed in Rudy Giuliani's
COMSTAT policy that successfully reduced crime in the
city, and decided to place police officers, or "safety agents" in public schools as a way to curb the violence that he heard was rampant there. (But many police officers dont like COMSTAT, and frankly, I dont see how a child is equal to a statistic. However, that's what we got when we gave Mike Bloomberg our children to 'protect' and 'keep safe' in the NYC public schools - Betsy Combier).
The TV show "The District" used the version of COMSTAT called 'Citistat'.
Craig T. Nelson meets Jack Maple (CBS, 2000). Maple whose life experience in crime fighting (as well as eccentricities) is the basis of Nelson's character on The District, also helped produce the show before his passing.
Citistat is a bureaucracy-breaking system which was developed in the City of Baltimore. It was the brainchild of Mayor Peter O'Malley and former NYPD deputy chief, the late Jack Maple. Maple proved in New York City that crime could be reduced by mapping criminal patterns of behavior and like unique evidence in order to gain timely intelligence to help an investigation.
This system, which started for Maple as large sheets of paper covering the walls in his office to a sophisticated computer program. ArcView GIS from ESRI, is the computer software in what eventually became "Comstat."
An example of the use of Comstat was given by Jack Maple in his book Crime Fighter. A prostitute was strangled, a particularly gruesome murder. She was hog-tied and gagged with a pink towel.
When Comstat was beginning, statistics dug up had found a previous similar murder. When a third murder of the same sort occurred, it showed a definite pattern, as well as displaying an isolated part of the city where the similar offenses were occurring.
Police then followed this pattern by canvassing prostitutes in that part of town and eventually got the tip that helped to catch this serial killer.
Finding even the most minute patterns quickly--out of mountains of data--as well as being able to visualize and digest the information easily on large screen monitors is what gives progressive police forces using the Comstat model an edge.
Minute details that used to take hours or days to sort through filing cabinets to retrieve are now entered into a database and connected in a meaningful pattern, using software and posing "what if" scenarios.
The similar information, such as some unique piece of evidence, could then be displayed on demand as colored push points on ArcView's map software for use at a crime solving strategy meeting.
Its use in NYC helped dramatically reduce crime during the Giuliani administration and make New York America's safest big city.
ComStat has been studied by policing agencies for replication all over the world. Former Mayor Guiliani is consulting on solving crime with Mexico City at present.
Comstat becomes Citistat
Comstat turned into the CitiStat model in Baltimore. It has already saved the taxpayers millions of dollars there. Citistat's premise is similar to ComStat: regular accountability meetings and graphical data a few clicks away.
As an example of usage one mappage in Baltimore has displayed real-time snow plows (using GPS on each truck) that light up the map as they move around the city, showing lit up on the computer screen like little Pacmen.
Getting a successful handle on the information crunch in a part of the Roads Department of activities in Baltimore has resulted in the ability for the mayor to make a pledge to pave any pothole reported by citizens within 48 hours. (Effective pothole repair is the first defense against premature deterioration of the road, saving on major repair costs later.)
Like Comstat, officials from all over the world have made the pilgrimage to Baltimore to study this successful system. A number of cities are also adopting major portions of Citistat.
The public has also seen the Mayor adopt the "Broken Windows" theory to our education system here in New York. However, the "Broken Windows" theory has never been "proven" to be valid, but this never stopped Bloomberg from buying into it anyway. See an overview of "Fixing broken windows"
Mr. Joel Klein, the CEO of the New York City Board of Education, and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly are now in federal court defending a safety agent's use of extreme force against a child, and the question of whether or not the police belong in schools will be answered - I hope (they dont, in my opinion - B.C.). Mr. Nat Hentoff has now been laid off from The Village Voice, (see below) and I cant help but wonder whether or not his articles on Mr. Klein and Mayor Bloomberg had anything to do with this?
Federal Court Defendants Joel Klein & Ray Kelly
Our Education Mayor remains silent about police abuses of students in public schools
By Nat Hentoff, (pictured at right) The Village Voice
published: December 31, 2008
While Joel Klein was among those being seriously considered by Barack Obama for Secretary of Education—Chicago Superintendent Arne Duncan won out—a civil rights complaint, demanding a jury trial, was filed in U.S. District Court here [Southern District, 08 Civ. 10055 (RJH)(MHD)]. The defendants include Chancellor Klein, Police Commissioner Kelly, the City of New York, and School Safety Agent Daniel O'Connell. The plaintiff is Carlos Cruz, father of Stephen Cruz, an 11th-grade student at Robert F. Kennedy Community High School in Flushing, Queens.
Klein is a defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed by attorney Jeffrey Rothman, because he "is and was at all times, the Commissioner of Education . . . and is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation . . . and enforcement of the policies and practices . . . herein. He is sued individually and in his official capacity."
I have reported often here on the documented abuses of students, and even some teachers, by the School Safety Agents deployed in this city's schools under Kelly, Klein, and Michael Bloomberg (the latter two praised around the country as champions of "school reform"). Since the 1950s, I've written in columns and books on our schools—and their chancellors from the worst to the best. But not until the Bloomberg/Klein regime have I seen such flagrant dereliction of accountability at the very top of the school system for frequent abuse of students by police agents. This Stephen Cruz case will be followed in next week's column by the even more outrageous treatment of 16-year-old Rohan Morgan at Hillcrest High School in Queens.
Teaching fear of the police is part of the curriculum in the school system—of which Bloomberg is so proud that he is striving (with the help of the City Council) to control the schools permanently.
On September 19, 2008, Stephen Cruz entered one of the stalls in the second-floor bathroom of his school and, as he leaned over to unbuckle his pants, School Safety Agent Daniel O'Connell—known as "Robocop" by the students—smashed open the door without any warning, let alone justification, cutting Stephen's head below the hairline. Bleeding, dizzy, the lump on his head swelling, Cruz showed his blood to the attacker, who said, "That's life. It will stop bleeding"—and left to do his safety rounds. A fellow student in the bathroom helped Cruz to the principal's office to get medical help. Cruz's parents were called to the school and told by the principal that since "Robocop" was an employee of the NYPD, he had no power to discipline the SWAT man.
But why had O'Connell knocked down the door? Stephen's father kept trying to find out, but was told that the Safety Agent didn't even have to submit a report to school officials. His immediate boss was School Safety Agent Supervisor Anthony Pelosi at the 107th Precinct. The impotent principal did schedule a meeting at the precinct to discuss the violence, but Pelosi abruptly canceled it—with, of course, no explanation.
Rothman said (as reported by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which has been trying to teach Klein and Bloomberg the Bill of Rights for years, concerning these cases): "It is appalling that the system is so broken that the only way for a parent to stand up for his son—and to prevent the same things from happening to other children—is to file a lawsuit and an Internal Affairs complaint." He added: "We shouldn't need attorneys to hold this man accountable for his shocking misconduct."
But not only Robocop should be held accountable. (Place your bets on whether he'll even be chided in an NYPD Internal Affairs "investigation.") Where was the chancellor of this city's public school students? Where was the Education Mayor? Not shocked—and not heard from.
If there are civics classes in our schools, then teachers—despite any fear of retaliation from the chancellor—should be reading to students from Rothman's suit during the testing-for-tests time of the No Child Left Behind Act: "School Safety Agent Daniel O'Connell, acting under color of law and without lawful justification, intentionally, maliciously, and with a deliberate indifference to—or a reckless disregard for the natural and probable consequences—caused injury and damage in violation of the plaintiff's constitutional rights . . ."
As for the creepy cover-up, the lawsuit continues: "By their conduct and actions in covering up the conduct and actions of the School Safety Agent," the other culpable defendants include "Raymond Kelly and Joel Klein," who also scorned the constitutional rights of Stephen Cruz. This lawsuit—and others are coming—also focuses on the failure "to properly train, screen, supervise, or discipline" O'Connell and others in that chain of command. Most clearly accountable for that failure is, of course, Police Commissioner Kelly. Aside from what your flack may conjure up, what say you directly, Commissioner?
Even more ultimately responsible for not bringing accountability and badly needed discipline to all of the potential defendants in this and other such lawsuits is the New York City Council leadership.
As I've detailed in previous columns, the Student Safety Act, which has long been before the council, would finally compel transparency and accountability for these and other police practices in the schools. Only 28 of the 51 council members support the Act, but there has yet to be even a hearing. Council member Melissa Mark-Viverito, a co-sponsor of the Student Safety Act, emphasizes: "What happened to Stephen is a disturbing reminder of the deep flaws in our Student Safety model. Ensuring students' safety is not a controversial matter. We all want safe schools, and this bill helps us meet that goal."
Of all big school systems in the country, only in New York does student safety also have to be protected from agents of the police. Why is there no hearing on the bill by the City Council? In the past, I've blamed Speaker Christine Quinn, but I now know that blocking this peril to the safety of students, especially in mainly black and Hispanic schools, is Queens Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., chairman of the Public Safety Committee, a majority of whose members support the Student Safety Act. Mr. Vallone has yet to respond to my calls to him and to his aides.
An assistant has told investigative reporter Vladic Ravich of the Queens Chronicle that there aren't enough funds for the Civilian Complaint Review Board to handle the additional casework of parent complaints about the Robocops among the Safety Agents. To hell with these parents and their children?! Vallone has two daughters in the public schools. I guess they're safe, too.
School Safety Agent O'Connell is now patrolling a middle school nearby.
Complaint:
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
-------------------------------------------------------X
CARLOS CRUZ, as Father and Next Friend
of STEPHEN CRUZ, COMPLAINT
Plaintiff, JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
-against-
ECF CASE
THE CITY OF NEW YORK; RAYMOND KELLY,
COMMISSIONER OF THE NEW YORK CITY 08 Civ. 10055 (RJH)(MHD)
POLICE DEPARTMENT; JOEL KLEIN,
COMMISSIONER OF THE NEW YORK CITY
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; SCHOOL
SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL, Shield
No. 2816; SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT
SUPERVISOR ANTHONY PELOSI AT THE
NYPD 107TH PRECINCT, Shield No. 0049;
JOHN DOES; RICHARD ROES,
Defendants
--------------------------------------------------------X
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
1. This is a civil rights action in which CARLOS CRUZ seeks relief on behalf of his son STEPHEN CRUZ for the defendants’ violation of STEPHEN CRUZ’s rights secured by the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, by the United States Constitution, including its Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, and by the laws and Constitution of the State of New York. The plaintiff seeks damages, both compensatory and punitive, affirmative and equitable relief, an award of costs and attorneys’ fees, and such other and further relief as this court deems equitable and just.
JURISDICTION
2. This action is brought pursuant to the Constitution of the United States, including its Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, and pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §1983. Jurisdiction is conferred upon this court by 42 U.S.C. §1983 and 28 U.S.C. §§1331 and 1343(a)(3) and (4), this being an action seeking redress for the violation of STEPHEN CRUZ’s constitutional and civil rights.
JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
3. Plaintiff demands a trial by jury on each and every claim as pleaded herein.
VENUE
4. Venue is proper for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1391 (a), (b) and (c).
PARTIES
5. Plaintiff CARLOS CRUZ is a citizen of the United States, and at all times relevant herein resided in the state of New York, county of Queens. STEPHEN CRUZ, a minor, is the son of CARLOS CRUZ, and is and was at the time of the events complained of herein fifteen years of age. STEPHEN CRUZ at all times relevant herein resided with his parents and family in the state of New York, county of Queens.
6. Defendant THE CITY OF NEW YORK (“The City”) is and was at all times relevant herein a municipal entity created and authorized under the laws of the State of New York. It is authorized by law to maintain a police department, which acts as its agent in the area of law enforcement and for which it is ultimately responsible. It is also authorized by law to maintain a department of education, which acts as its agent in the area of education of the City’s youth and for which it is ultimately responsible. Defendant THE CITY OF NEW YORK assumes the risks incidental to the maintenance of a police force and system of public education and the employment of school safety agents as said risk attaches to the public consumers of the services provided by the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) and Department of Education (“DOE”).
7. Defendant RAYMOND KELLY is and was at all times relevant herein, the Police Commissioner for the City of New York, and he is responsible, in whole and/or in part, for the creation, implementation, promulgation and enforcement of the policies, practices and /or customs complained of herein. He is sued individually and in his official capacity.
8. Defendant JOEL KLEIN is and was at all times relevant herein, the Commissioner of Education for the City of New York, and he is responsible, in whole and/or in part, for the creation, implementation, promulgation and enforcement of the policies, practices and /or customs complained of herein. He is sued individually and in his official capacity.
9. Defendants SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL, Shield No. 2816, and JOHN DOES, are and were at all times relevant herein duly appointed and acting officers, servants, employees and agents of THE CITY OF NEW YORK and/or the New York City Police Department and/or the New York City Department of Education, municipal agencies of defendant THE CITY OF NEW YORK. Said individual defendants are and were at all times relevant herein acting under color of state law in the course and scope of their duties and functions as officers, agents, servants, and employees of defendant THE CITY OF NEW YORK, were acting for, and on behalf of, and with the power and authority vested in them by THE CITY OF NEW YORK and/or the New York City Police Department and/or the New York City Department of Education, and were otherwise performing and engaging in conduct incidental to the performance of their lawful functions in the course of their duties. Defendants O’CONNELL and JOHN DOES are sued individually and in their official capacity.
10. Defendants SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT SUPERVISOR ANTHONY PELOSI AT THE NYPD 107TH PRECINCT, Shield No. 0049, and RICHARD ROES are and were at all times relevant herein duly appointed and acting supervisory officers, servants, employees and agents of THE CITY OF NEW YORK and/or the New York City Police Department and/or the New York City Department of Education, responsible for the training, retention, supervision, discipline and control of school safety agents and other employees under their command. Said individual defendants are and were at all times relevant herein acting under color of state law in the course and scope of their duties and functions as supervisory officers, agents, servants, and employees of defendant THE CITY OF NEW YORK, were acting for, and on behalf of, and with the power and authority vested in them by THE CITY OF NEW YORK and/or the New York City Police Department and/or the New York City Department of Education, and were otherwise performing and engaging in conduct incidental to the performance of their lawful functions in the course of their duties. Defendants SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT SUPERVISOR PELOSI AT THE NYPD 107TH PRECINCT, Shield No. 0049 and RICHARD ROES are sued individually and in their official capacity.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
11. STEPHEN CRUZ is a student at Robert F. Kennedy High School in Flushing, Queens.
12. The afternoon of September 19, 2008, Plaintiff STEPHEN CRUZ entered the second floor bathroom, and entered one of the bathroom stalls so that he could use the facilities.
13. As he leaned his head over to unbuckle his pants, defendant SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL, without any warning or justification, violently kicked the door of the stall into STEPHEN CRUZ’S head.
14. When he saw that there was blood coming from the wound that he had inflicted upon STEPHEN CRUZ, Defendant SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL said, “That’s life, it will stop bleeding.”
15. Defendant SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL then left the bathroom, without any attempt to seek medical attention for STEPHEN CRUZ.
16. Another student who was present in the bathroom assisted STEPHEN CRUZ to clean the blood off of his head, and assisted STEPHEN CRUZ in getting to the school’s main office, where the incident could be reported and STEPHEN CRUZ could get medical attention.
17. STEPHEN CRUZ’s parents were called to the school.
18. STEPHEN CRUZ’s father CARLOS CRUZ made repeated attempts on that occasion and in the days that followed to ascertain what Defendant SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL’s explanation was for his conduct. CARLOS CRUZ was unable to obtain that information from the school’s officials, and was informed that SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL did not have to submit a report to school officials, since he was governed by the NYPD 107th Precinct.
19. STEPHEN CRUZ’s father CARLOS CRUZ was subsequently informed by the school’s Principal that SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT SUPERVISOR ANTHONY PELOSI AT THE NYPD 107TH PRECINCT had cancelled a meeting with the Principal at which meeting the Principal had expected to obtain further information as to what Defendant SCHOOL SAFETY
AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL’s explanation was for his conduct.
20. To date, no explanation has been provided to STEPHEN CRUZ or his father CARLOS CRUZ for what transpired in the bathroom stall.
21. Defendant SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL is referred to as “Robocop” by the students at Robert F. Kennedy High School because of his routine aggressive and inappropriate behavior towards the students.
22. In 1998, School Safety Agents were transferred from the Department of Education and placed under the authority of the New York City Police Department. Since that time there has been a widespread lack of transparency and accountability concerning the actions of School Safety Agents in the New York City Public Schools.
FIRST CLAIM
DEPRIVATION OF RIGHTS UNDER THE
UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND 42 U.S.C. §1983
23. Plaintiff incorporates by reference the allegations set forth in all preceding paragraphs as if fully set forth herein.
24. By his conduct and actions in assaulting and battering STEPHEN CRUZ with unwarranted and excessive force, by wrongfully invading the privacy of STEPHEN CRUZ, by falsely imprisoning STEPHEN CRUZ in a bathroom stall, by inflicting emotional distress upon STEPHEN CRUZ, by failing to provide proper medical care for STEPHEN CRUZ, and by violating STEPHEN CRUZ’s right to substantive due process, defendant SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL, acting under color of law and without lawful justification, intentionally, maliciously, and with a deliberate indifference to or a reckless disregard for the natural and probable consequences of their acts, caused injury and damage in violation of plaintiff’s constitutional rights as guaranteed under 42 U.S.C. §1983 and the United States Constitution, including its Fourth and Fourteenth amendments.
25. By their conduct and actions in covering up the conduct and actions of defendant SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL and preventing transparency regarding the September 19, 2008 incident, defendants JOHN DOES, SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT SUPERVISOR ANTHONY PELOSI AT THE NYPD 107TH PRECINCT, RAYMOND KELLY, and JOEL KLEIN, acting under color of law and without lawful justification, intentionally, maliciously, and with a deliberate indifference to or a reckless disregard for the natural and probable consequences of their acts, caused injury and damage in violation of plaintiff’s constitutional rights as guaranteed under 42 U.S.C. §1983 and the United States Constitution, including its Fourth and Fourteenth amendments.
26. As a result of the foregoing, STEPHEN CRUZ was deprived of his liberty, suffered bodily injury, pain and suffering, psychological and emotional injury, great humiliation, costs and expenses, and was otherwise damaged and injured.
SECOND CLAIM
SUPERVISORY LIABILITY FOR DEPRIVATION OF RIGHTS
UNDER THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND 42 U.S.C. §1983
27. Plaintiff incorporates by reference the allegations set forth in all preceding paragraphs as if fully set forth herein.
28. By failing to remedy the wrongs committed by their subordinates, including defendant SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL, and in failing to properly train, screen, supervise, or discipline their subordinates, including defendant SCHOOL SAFETY AGENT DANIEL O’CONNELL, supervisory officers RICHARD ROES, SCHOOL SAFETY
AGENT SUPERVISOR ANTHONY PELOSI AT THE NYPD 107TH PRECINCT, RAYMOND KELLY, and JOEL KLEIN caused damage and injury in violation of STEPHEN CRUZ’s rights guaranteed under 42 U.S.C. §1983, and the United States Constitution, including its Fourth and Fourteenth amendments.
29. As a result of the foregoing, STEPHEN CRUZ was deprived of his liberty, suffered bodily injury, pain and suffering, psychological and emotional injury, great humiliation, costs and expenses, and was otherwise damaged and injured.
THIRD CLAIM
LIABILITY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
FOR CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS
30. Plaintiff incorporates by reference the allegations set forth in all preceding paragraphs as if fully set forth herein.
31. At all times material to this complaint, defendant THE CITY OF NEW YORK, acting through its police department and department of education, and through the individual defendants had de facto policies, practices, customs and usages which were a direct and proximate cause of the unconstitutional conduct alleged herein.
32. At all times material to this complaint, defendant THE CITY OF NEW YORK, acting through its police department and department of education, and through the individual defendants, had de facto policies, practices, customs, and usages of failing to properly train, screen, supervise, or discipline employees and school safety agents, and of failing to inform the individual defendants’ supervisors of their need to train, screen, supervise or discipline said defendants. These policies, practices, customs, and usages were a direct and proximate cause of the unconstitutional conduct alleged herein.
33. At all times material to this complaint, defendant THE CITY OF NEW YORK, acting through its police department, and through the individual defendants, had de facto policies, practices, customs, and usages of encouraging and/or tacitly sanctioning the violation of the rights of New York City Public School students by School Safety Agents and by other members of the NYPD. These policies, practices, customs, and usages were a direct and proximate cause of the unconstitutional conduct alleged herein.
34. At all times material to this complaint, defendant THE CITY OF NEW YORK, acting through its police department, and through the individual defendants, had de facto policies, practices, customs, and usages of encouraging and/or tacitly sanctioning the covering up of the improper conduct and actions of School Safety Agents and other members of the NYPD in the New York City Public Schools. These policies, practices, customs, and usages were a direct and proximate cause of the unconstitutional conduct alleged herein.
35. At all times material to this complaint, defendant THE CITY OF NEW YORK, acting through its police department, and through the individual defendants, had de facto policies, practices, customs, and usages of encouraging and/or tacitly sanctioning the widespread lack of transparency and accountability concerning the actions of School Safety Agents and other members of the NYPD in the New York City Public Schools. These policies, practices, customs, and usages were a direct and proximate cause of the unconstitutional conduct alleged herein.
36. As a result of the foregoing, STEPHEN CRUZ was deprived of his liberty, suffered bodily injury, pain and suffering, psychological and emotional injury, great humiliation, costs and expenses, and was otherwise damaged and injured.
WHEREFORE, plaintiff demands the following relief jointly and severally against all of the defendants:
a. Compensatory damages;
b. Punitive damages;
c. The convening and empanelling of a jury to consider the merits of the claims herein;
d. Costs and interest and attorney’s fees;
e. Such other and further relief as this court may deem appropriate and equitable.
Dated: New York, New York
November 19, 2008
________/S/____________________
JEFFREY A. ROTHMAN, Esq. [JR-0398]
Law Office of Jeffrey A. Rothman
315 Broadway, Suite 200
New York, New York 10007
(212) 227-2980
RONALD L. KUBY, Esq. [RK-1879]
Law Office of Ronald L. Kuby
119 W. 23rd Street, Suite 900
New York, New York 10011
(212) 529-0223
Attorneys for Plaintiff Carlos Cruz,
as Father and Next Friend of Stephen Cruz
See The School To Prison Pipeline
Here is a report by CBS in August, 2008:
Proposed 'Student Safety Act' To Police Security
NYC Schools Cop Report Card To Monitor Gender, Race Of Those Arrested, Suspended & Expelled
LINK
With shootings on campuses making headlines across the country, security remains a major concern.
But here at home some are saying those called on to help keep students and faculty safe are going too far.
On the steps of City Hall on Thursday, dozens of students, politicians and parents tried to make a point that the people who police the schools need to be policed themselves.
"I have seen a school safety agent handcuff one of my friends and punch her in the face," student Jaritza Geigel said.
Accusations are flying that school safety officers are treating too many students like criminals.
"What used to be a walk to the principal's office has now become a walk to your local precinct," said Udi Ofer of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Now comes the Student Safety Act that's essentially a report card of school cops, meant to monitor arrests, suspensions and expulsions of students, and then break down the information by race, sex and disability status -- with complaints going to the civilian complaint review board.
"The information can be analyzed to determine is there racism going on? Is there sexism going on? Is it because any one student who has special needs?" said NYC Education Committee chairman Robert Jackson.
Backers of this bill say it would lead to more accountability and transparency in the schools but critics say it's just another layer of bureaucracy."
"It's very difficult to do your job under these kinds of pressures," said Gregory Floyd of Local 237.
The union head says with his officers in place crime in schools is down, yet this bill would be a punishment.
"The punishment is if you sneeze the wrong way, somebody is going to come after your position," Floyd said.
CBS 2 HD wanted to know if Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office thought added oversight for school officers was a good idea, but it deferred all comment to the city's Department of Education. However, the DOE wasn't talking either, saying it doesn't comment on pending legislation.
And by the way, The Village Voice has laid off Mr. Hentoff:
December 31, 2008
Village Voice Lays Off Nat Hentoff and 2 Others
By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD, NY TIMES
The troubled Village Voice laid off three employees Tuesday, including Nat Hentoff, the prominent columnist who has worked for the paper since 1958, contributing opinionated columns about jazz, civil liberties and politics.
Lynn Yaeger, a fashion writer who has worked for the paper for about 30 years, was also laid off, as was Chloe A. Hilliard, who has written for two years.
“Nat Hentoff wrote liner notes for every great musician that I’ve ever loved, from Billie Holiday to Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin, and that’s not even what he’s been writing about for the last 30 years,” said Tom Robbins, a Voice staff writer.
Founded in 1955, The Village Voice was sold in 2005 to New Times Media, a Phoenix-based publisher of alternative weeklies that later changed its name to Village Voice Media. Calls for comment from Jim Larkin, the chief executive of Village Voice Media, and Tony Ortega, who was hired as Village Voice editor in 2007, were not returned.
Mr. Robbins estimated that since the sale, The Voice has laid off about half of its staff. “I understand they have serious advertising revenue problems, but they don’t seem to be able to sit there and just talk about them with their own work force to deal with these problems,” he said.
In an article in the current issue of The New Yorker about The Voice, Louis Menand wrote, “Until its own success made it irresistible to buyers who imagined that they could do better with a business plan than its founders had done from desperation and instinct, it had the courage to live by its wits.”
Mr. Hentoff said he learned the news in a phone call with Mr. Ortega on Tuesday morning. “I’m 83 and a half. You’d think they’d have let me go silently,” he said. “Fortunately, I’ve never been more productive.”
Mr. Hentoff plans to continue to write a weekly column for the United Media syndicate and contribute pieces to The Wall Street Journal. His book “At the Jazz Band Ball: 60 Years on the Jazz Scene,” is expected next year.
“With all due immodesty, I think it doesn’t help to lose me because people have told me they read The Voice not only for me, but certainly for me,” he said.
