New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Thursday that the city has decided to drop the appeal over the stop-and-frisk reform appeal, instead opting to go ahead and follow the new rules and hire a monitor.
CNN reports that de Blasio will follow through on his campaign promise and said that the settlement in the controversial police policies is "historic," and noted most stopped were innocent.
A court-appointed monitor will be brought in to make sure that the NYC Police Department follows the reforms that a judge had put in place during the Floyd vs. City of New York case. The monitor will oversee the reforms for a three-year period and report on findings to a federal court.
During a Brooklyn news conference on Thursday, de Blasio said, "We believe these steps will make everyone safer," according to The Associated Press. "This will be one city where everyone rises together, where everyone's rights are protected."
Executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights Vincent Warren, who worked on many of the cases noted that just because the policy was going to be adjusted and overseen, discrimination would likely continue.
"Nobody standing here today is pretending this is mission accomplished. The problem hasn't been solved."
New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman echoed those thoughts, noting it is understood that an end to the culture "cannot happen overnight."
image: Wikimedia Commons
