Thursday’s Headlines: Letitia James Calls for NYPD Reform Edition

Letitia James. File photo: Matt Cohen
Letitia James. File photo: Matt Cohen

The story of the day yesterday was the preliminary report handed down by state Attorney General Letitia James, who said the NYPD needs to be dramatically reformed. [Full report PDF]

Everyone took a bite out of the 50-something page document. The Daily News was surprisingly light on details. The Post, of course, homed in on one detail for its right-wing base, demeaning James’s suggestion that the NYPD be overseen by a citizens committee — a proposal that the Times played as entirely credible. (We had an opinion piece calling for Council control of the cops.)

Gothamist played it surprisingly muted.

James’s report comes amid a backdrop of the mayor saying he supports police reform, including a bill to ban chokeholds, while the NYPD brass who work for him continue to defy him. On Wednesday, NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan did so yet again, saying the chokehold bill would make it impossible to do their jobs (NY Post). Well, it would at least make it impossible to do their jobs brutally, so Monahan is at least partly right.

In other news:

  • Great minds think in reverse: Like Streetsblog, the Daily News covered the two major reports about MTA finances yesterday. But Guse of the Newsuh play them in the opposite order as our own Dave Colon. Mark Hallum of amNY broke the tie (in our favor).
  • We think we can all agree that we should all be wearing masks on buses. (NY Post)
  • Late on Monday, an SUV driver drove through a Black Lives Matter protest and was taken into custody. (NY Post)
  • Defying his car-loving Metro section bosses, Times critic Michael Kimmelman offered his full-throated support for more cycling in the city. “If the mayor wants to get New York rolling again he could imitate cities that subsidize bike purchases by underserved residents and promote electric-assist cycling,” he wrote. (But then, Komanoff wrote the same thing for us a few weeks ago!)
  • Meanwhile tech writer Farhad Manjoo added his throat to the fight, too!
  • Sad news for Brooklynites of all ages: Jane Walentas (of Jane’s Carousel) is dead. (amNY)
  • And in some personal news (for every parent in town), public schools are really going to stink this year. (NY Times)

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