For IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 16, 2020
Contact: Reynolds Graves rgraves@skdknick.com
TODAY: More Misinformation, More Fearmongering, More Purposeful Undermining of Reforms
Former Police Commissioner Bill Bratton Gets it Wrong; Tabloids Cherry-pick the Law to Push Fear & Hysteria
NEW YORK — In response to a series of politicized, misleading tweets from Former New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton about a New York Daily News story that blamed new bail reform laws for continued offenses by a serial subway turnstile jumper, Khalil Cumberbatch, Chief Strategist for New Yorkers United for Justice, made the following statement:
Commissioner Bill Bratton should be a trusted authority on public safety – instead, he’s pitting communities against one another, misleading the public, stoking fears, and electioneering. Bratton’s tweets, about a misleading New York Daily News piece, blaming criminal justice reforms for a man who was arrested 130+ times before reforms were even passed is reckless and wrong. Where was the outrage during all the man’s arrests prior to reforms being put in place? And where is basic fact checking around timelines by the Daily News? The reality is that this man could have been arrested, given a speedy trial, sentenced, and gone to jail – before reforms were put in place. Instead, we have a former police commissioner tweeting misleading claims and playing partisan games about an article that does a poor job of informing its readers.
This is why the New York Times detailed the various ways opponents of reform are regularly taking stories out of context to scare the public, just like Bill Bratton has done. It’s why Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder was forced to admit, and concede, that there was “no direct link” between the tragic death of Wilmer Maldonado Rodriguez and the state’s new discovery law.
We need honesty and facts about long over-due reforms that make our state safer and fairer. What we don’t need are lies and distortions. We deserve better – and we’ll continue to call offenders out and hold bad actors accountable.
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