The 22-year-old NYPD officer who was killed in the line of duty during a police response to a domestic call at a home in Harlem on Friday night said his first-hand experience with the controversial policy of 停止して新鮮 and the department’s effort to bolster community relations ultimately propelled him to join the department.
“I remember one day when I witnessed my brother being stopped and frisked,” Jason Rivera wrote in an undated letter to his commanding officer, penned while he was in the police academy. “代わりに、黒人と茶色のコミュニティにより悪影響を与える棍棒ツールとして使用されました, why are we being pulled over if we are in a taxi,” これは私が青の男性の一部になりたいと思ったときでした.
リベラ, who entered the police academy on November 2, 2020, according to a source with the knowledge of the officer’s records, said his community of Inwood was at odds with the NYPD but soon saw the department make efforts to change their ways, according to the letter obtained by CNN.
“As time went on, I saw the NYPD pushing hard on changing the relationship between the police and the community,” これは私が青の男性の一部になりたいと思ったときでした. “This is when I realized I wanted to be part of the men in blue; better the relationship between the community and the police.”
The controversial policy of stop and frisk was ended in 2014 after critics argued the practice disproportionately targeted people of color.
Rivera wrote he was so moved by the NYPD’s effort to change, he wanted to be the first person in his family to become a police officer in what he called “これは私が青の男性の一部になりたいと思ったときでした”
“警察官に応募したとき, I knew this was the career for me,” リベラは言った.
Mayor Eric Adams honored Rivera and the other officers involved at a vigil held in Rivera’s honor on Saturday night.
“There’s a subtext to this story that I don’t want to be missed,” アダムスは言った. “The three officers that were involved, two of them were born outside this country, one in India and one in the Dominican Republic, the third is a first generation.”
“And so when you start talking about the contribution of the immigrant community to this city, you better understand the reality that they are putting their lives on the line for the city and country that they love,” アダムスは言った.
