Senator Parker Commends Associated Press for Pulitzer and Seeks Accountability for NYPD

For Immediate Release: April 19, 2012

(Brooklyn, NY)  Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Chris Hawley, and Eileen Sullivan were awarded the Pulitzer for Investigative Reporting on the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) surveillance program of Muslims throughout the Northeast United States.  “I commend them for their intrepid reporting on this serious issue that undermines our constitutional rights and criminalizes an entire community,” said Parker. 

Recently, we have witnessed serious abuses by the NYPD, in terms of  the wholesale surveillance of the Muslim community in New York City and other jurisdictions. In some situations the Associated Press unveiled that the public was given misinformation and even deliberately misled with respect to this surveillance.  “The Associated Press has done an excellent job in bringing these concerns to the public’s attention.  Due to their outstanding reporting I have introduced two pieces of legislation to create a watchdog over the NYPD in order to curtail these atrocities,” stated Parker.                                                                                                   

The two pieces of legislation are S.6407A and S.6695 which create an independent inspector general (IG) for the NYPD but also law enforcement throughout the state engaged in intelligence gathering.  Every other municipal agency has an independent IG, the NYPD must play by the same rules.  A number of police departments across the country including Los Angeles and New Orleans as well as federal law enforcement agencies have an inspector general.  “The independent oversight restores the public’s trust and confidence in our police department in light of the recent abusive practices,” stated Parker.  

In addition,  Senator Parker has joined Senator Eric Adams in legislation that establishes a bi-cameral intelligence committee in the Legislature to oversee the billions in federal dollars that New York receives for intelligence and security.  “The bicameral committee in addition to an independent inspector general are key to creating accountability within the New York Police Department,” continued Parker.

About Senator Kevin Parker

Senator Kevin S. Parker is intimately familiar with the needs of his ethnically diverse community that consists of 311,000 constituents in Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Ditmas Park, Kensington and Borough Park. He is the Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, former Majority Whip and Chair of the Democratic Task Force on New Americans.

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 Contact: Umair Khan ‌‌‌‌‌| mukhan@nynsenate.gov | 518-455-2580 ph |518-426-6843 fax