PTH Civil Rights Campaign members rally at Attorney General's office, pushing Cuomo to act on NYPD rights violations

On the morning of February 9, members of Picture the Homeless's Civil Rights Campaign rallied outside New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's Manhattan office, demanding that he take action on the NYPD's unconstitutional enforcement of the Disorderly Conduct statute.  

PTH members successfully delivered our letter requesting a meeting, and other materials with supporting evidence about the issue, to Cuomo's Manhattan office -- at the same time, other PTH members delivered the same package to Cuomo's Albany office.  The offices also received a flurry of supportive phone calls from supporters of PTH's cause.

This action challenging the Attorney General builds on the surveys the Civil Rights Campaign has done highlighting the issue, our testimonial video, our January summit at Center for Constitutional Rights -- and a broader climate of urgency around the city, with many concerned about police harassment faced by homeless, Black, Latino, LGBT New Yorkers.  As Bob Herbert wrote on February 2 in the New York Times:

"The New York City Police Department needs to be restrained... There were more than a half-million stops in New York City in 2008, and when the final tally is in, we'll find the number only increased in 2009... Rather than a legitimate crime-fighting tool, these stops are a despicable, racially oriented tool of harassment... People who object to the harassment are often threatned with arrest for disorderly conduct."

The action was a success!  Our letters were delivered, our message was sent... Today, we got word from Cuomo's Civil Rights division, that they will be looking into the constitutional injustices and pattern of discrimination that we have identified, and take on the matter of the vagueness of the Disorderly Conduct statute, and the fact that a person's specific violation is never specified when they're hit with a Dis Con charge.   We will be staying on top of this...  Thanks to everyone for support and participation -- stay in touch, let's keep building!

PHOTOS BY BRANDON KING & SAM MILLER:

PTH in the lobby...

delivering package to Attorney General...

rallying outside!