The Gathering for Justice Denounces Governor Hochul’s Harmful Five-Point Plan

Last week, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a five-point subway plan that includes deploying 1,000 members of law enforcement throughout New York City’s transit system, including 750 members of the U.S. National Guard, typically reserved for deployment during local or statewide emergencies. On the heels of the passage of the How Many Stops Act, aimed at increasing NYPD accountability, based on a history of improper stops and consent searches, Hochul’s plan newly subjects New Yorkers to increased bag checks and encounters that are likely to disproportionately harm Black and Brown commuters and other at-risk groups.

The plan also includes legislation that would expand judges’ authority to ban people from using the transit system based on certain convictions, allow prosecutors to track so-called “repeat offenders,” and install surveillance cameras in conductor cabins. Hochul also provides an appropriation of $20 million–in addition to money already proposed by Mayor Adams in the NYC budget–to expand mental health co-response teams consisting, not only of mental health practitioners, but law enforcement officers authorized to use force to remove people. All of these measures only serve to increase the already loosely restricted power of law enforcement and embolden them to continue to act with impunity, while limiting the rights of civilian New Yorkers, and improperly target vulnerable populations, including individuals with records, youth, unhoused people, and those  suffering from mental health crises. 

The Gathering for Justice vehemently denounces these proposals and this plan, as a whole. We, alongside numerous organizations and elected officials, signed onto and submitted a response letter to the Governor urging her to abandon the plan’s proposals that would increase these harmful and discriminatory policing practices and strategies. True public and community safety cannot be achieved by increased law enforcement, invasive surveillance, and punitive legislation. To that end, we urge Governor Hochul to reconsider her approach and pursue more measured and effective strategies, grounded in the community, that will actually promote meaningful public safety.

Sincerely,

Jessica Persaud, Esq. 

Director of Policy & Advocacy 

The Gathering for Justice

[Click Image To Read The Full Letter]