Tri Level Legislative Taskforce Hosts Final Hearing On Police Protocol And Reform

Malcolm A. Smith

November 24, 2007

Among those that have offered testimony throughout the series of hearings were Nicole Paultre-Bell, fiancéof the late Sean Bell and her lawyer Sanford Rubenstein; Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, Reverend Dr.Herbert Daughtry, Senior Pastor, House of the Lord Church; NormanSiegel, Civil Rights Attorney, Anthony Miranda, from National Latino Officer Association, and Hazel N. Dukes, NYS President ofthe NAACP.


Chair of the US House Judiciary Committee, Congressman John Conyers, added “I would like to applaud the Tri-Level Task Force for doing the work necessary to curb the potential for the inappropriate and unlawful use of force by local law enforcement agencies. Incidents like the one involving Sean Bell create a climate of community mistrust that makes the important work of the police even more difficult. I look forward to following the work of the commission in the hopes that they will be able to adopt a series of best practices that may be applicable to other law enforcement agencies around the country.”

The Task Force includes Senate DemocraticLeader Malcolm A. Smith, U.S. Congressmen Charles Rangel, Gregory W. Meeks, NYC CouncilSpeaker Christine Quinn, NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson,NYC Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, NYS Senators Shirley Huntley, EricAdams, NYS Assembly Members Vivian Cook, Ruben Diaz, Jr.and other elected officials from the City, State and Federal Government.