NYPD Investigation of 100
Blacks in Law Enforcement
As many of you are aware it was revealed
in federal court that members of the organization (100 Blacks in Law
Enforcement) were under surveillance by the NYPD.
This revelation came out while Chief King of the Internal Affairs Bureau
was crossed examined by Yvette Walton’s attorney. Yvette Walton is a former
police officer currently suing to be reinstated after she was terminated a
half-hour after testifying at the city council hearing on the street crime unit.
Following Chief King’s admission there
was much talk of what the investigation entailed and the reason for the
investigation. According to his
testimony there were two investigations. The first took place for an
eleven-month period beginning in October 1998. The second took place during
March of 1999. It is our desire to
inform you on what the Police Commissioner shared with us regarding the two
investigations. The first investigation the Commissioner stated had to do only
with myself Eric Adams. He stated
that there were allegations that I was associating with a known felon. After
eleven months of investigating this allegation, the police department determined
that this allegation was unsubstantiated.
The second investigation had to do with an
allegation that was made by members assigned to the street crime unit.
They alleged that members of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement attempted to
coerce members of the street crime unit to speak negatively about the unit’s
activities. The commissioner stated that during this investigation the IAB only
investigated the officers who made the allegations and did not investigate the
organization. He further stated emphatically that members of 100 Blacks were
never under investigation at any time.
After hearing the Commissioner’s words
the co-founders of the organization sat down with our legal council and
attorneys of the American Civil Liberties Union.
We found that there were too many substantial contradictions between the
statements of Chief King and Police Commissioner Howard Safir. We decided that
it was only appropriate for the organization to request that an outside body
investigate the actions of the police department in regards to 100 Blacks in Law
Enforcement.
The leadership of the organization has
always expected the police department to monitor our everyday actions. Because we expect it does not mean we will accept it.
It is our desire to allow state and city lawmakers to examine what the
police department did during previous years and determine if their actions were
illegal. We know that our members
can withstand any form of scrutiny. We
expect and have a high level of integrity from all of our members.
The police department’s own results of their investigation substantiate
that.
We will keep you updated with the outcome
of this matter.
8/14/00
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