Four NYPD officers revealed in new sworn declarations that an unofficial, off-the-books arrest quota system led them to target Black and Latino New Yorkers.
According to a report in the Seattle Times, one cop recalled the time a white supervisor asked, “Are you going to take someone’s freedom today?”
The new documents, which will be filed in Manhattan federal court soon, added further detail to a long-running lawsuit launched by four other minority officers, which claims they faced retaliation for not arresting enough people of color.
According to the documents, white officers allegedly did not face the same pressures or arrest expectations.
Retired officer Charles Spruill said he was berated daily by supervisors who pressured him to meet arrest quotas.
“On one occasion in the 40th Precinct, a white supervisor asked an African-American police officer, ‘Are you going to take someone’s freedom today?’” Spruill, who is Black, revealed in his affidavit. “The African-American police officer had no choice but to say, ‘OK, boss,’” he recalled.
City attorneys filed a scathing submission in Manhattan federal court last month, slamming one of the original plaintiffs, Lt. Edwin Raymond, as insubordinate and unwilling to do his job. Raymond is now running for City Council while on leave from the force.
Since the suit was filed in 2015, some two dozen current and retired officers have all filed legal papers backing the claim that a race-based quota system disproportionately affected minority cops on the force.
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When the white supervisor asked an African-American police officer, ‘Are you going to take someone’s freedom today?
He should have said: “Yea, Yours”