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Max Smith

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Monetary Settlement Is Not Enough:

Joint Statement by Hugh B. Price, President of the National Urban League, and Dennis M. Walcott, President of the New York Urban League

Regarding the Abner Louima Settlement

New York, NY, March 23, 2001—The New York Urban League and the National Urban League are pleased to hear that New York City’s police department and the Police Benevolent Association, the police union - have finally taken responsibility for the horrible injustice that was committed against Abner Louima on that fateful night of August 9^th 1997. The $8.6 million settlement sends a strong message to those corrupt and abusive officers that abuse of citizens will not be tolerated, and that there will be a severe monetary penalty when such abuses are uncovered.

To truly acknowledge responsibility however, and send a message to its police force and begin a process of real change, the NYPD and the PBA must formally commit to reform. The 48-hour rule that protects officers suspected of wrongdoing from being questioned for 48 hours while they consult with lawyers and union officials must be abolished. It is only through a formal commitment to change that the misdeeds of rogue officers will be exposed and the culture of cover-up eradicated.

The New York Urban League and the National Urban League and numerous other civil rights and civil liberties organizations have actively fought since 1997 to bring police brutality and abuse and racial profiling to the forefront of public consciousness and in so doing, to aid in the eradication of those injustices.

Therefore, it is distressing that nowhere in the proposed settlement is there a reference to changes in the way the Police Department or the police union will handle cases in which officers are accused of wrongdoing.

A monetary settlement, though it sends a strong message and is an important first step, is not enough.