BLM-NJ: We deserve better from city police

Once again, the Trenton Police Department has violated the trust and safety of our community by using unnecessary and nearly lethal force on a city resident. This time not in the shadows of dark alleys, but out in the public sphere. The shooting of Bahin Lynch is a continuation of a pattern of dangerous police behavior and bad city policy, aimed to attack and disenfranchise the most vulnerable in Trenton. The Lynch shooting reveals the pervasiveness within the suburban cultural bias of racism and classism that exist within the Trenton Police Department, filled with police from outside the city. Also, this is the pinnacle of the undemocratic policing policies and agenda of the mayor. Let us not forget the wildly unpopular plan to use churches as police holding cells during the unconstitutional curfew, which solicited threats of lawsuits from a DC watchdog group.

Lynch, unarmed, was shot as he ran away from the police, which as we just saw with Walter Scott’s case is not a reason to shoot and/ or kill unarmed citizens. What is even more egregious, it was discovered that Sgt. Jason Atsbury was found to have alcohol in his cruiser during the incident. A sergeant! It shows the level of corruption and abusive levels of power in the Trenton police force. How can we trust that the police really works for us to ensure the Constitution, when the Police are blatantly criminal in their disregard of policy and law. How can we trust the police when the Trenton’s police director, who is in charge of managing and deploying these officers, has been reported to have referred to Trentonians as “hood rats”? How can we accept the narrative that Mayor Eric Jackson is determined to see our city youth prosper when he imposed a citywide curfew in 2016 that violated citizens constitutional rights and violated the separation of church and state by using church sanctuaries as holding cells? Our mayor believes in education? When are our neighborhood libraries reopening?

Due to this repeated pattern of abuse, we demand an immediate firing of Police Director Parrey. We demand that the police officers involved be fired, charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We demand full transparency between the community, TPD and the Attorney General during the investigations of Bahin Lynch, Kendall Rossi, Dwayne Derry and Genesis Torres. We demand a divestment of police. Tay payers should not have to foot the bill for providing resources that our city should already have. Instead, that money should then be invested in programs that address generational poverty and urban environmental harm, programs that foster job creation and the enrichment of our community, the opening of clinics that provide adequate health services and resources, and the reopening of all of our city’s closed libraries.

While pulling funds from social programs to increase the police budget the mayor has set a tone that is amplified in his decision to not fire a Police director who has obvious cultural biases and poor public relation skills and the Lynch shooting. Moreover, we have witnessed police spending a lot of their community relations going to churches hosting discussions, arguing against the Constitution, citing it as the reason they are unable to solve crimes in Trenton. If the NJ and U.S. Constitution is the reason why police cannot do their job (the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, and even the 8th amendments) and is keeping a government institution from functioning, then it is not an efficient government institution and needs to be reconfigured or dismantled.

Hyper-policing city residents by focusing on low level crime as a means of decreasing the likelihood of more serious crimes being committed is an obsolete, inefficient tactic in policing. Trenton communities are not inherently violent,thus requiring more policing as city officials may proclaim. We have an issue of generationally deep long term unemployment that affects predominantly black, poor, and working class citizens. Lack of resources and opportunities also leave Trenton youth with little option other than leaving Trenton, seeking employment in a stagnant global market, or engaging the informal market, from kitchen salons, yard work to drugs. Instead of punishing people for being poor, we need to explore 21st century models for city government and civic engagement that focus on democratic values and principles and not that of a police state. Trentonians need democratic rehabilitation and restoration like everyone else in our surrounding area.

TPD and the current City Administration have often created more rifts between community members than it has participated in strengthening the community. This can be exemplified in the city’s new proposed auxiliary police. Our city’s budget reflects investment in policing, however, implementing an auxiliary force is once again passing the responsibility and accountability of policing onto the community while collecting tax payer money to do it. A citizen’s power and constitutional rights should be cultivated and institutionalized, bringing all citizens together and not pitting them against each other to escape accountability for doing one’s job. Instead of auxiliary police we need to empower our citizens to hold the police accountable and not passing accountability on to the citizens. This city needs a Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) with the abilities to subpoena and work with the respected unions and city officials to find solutions in training and accountability.

If our city officials look to bullying a community with the police as a solution then why wouldn’t our youth continue that pattern of coercive force and bully their neighbors? The government is supposed to be an example and the best reflection of the community it serves. City leadership should focus on the cultivation of our communities, rather than pushing us out and replacing us.

Black Lives Matter New Jersey has been participating in Newark’s fight for a Civilian Complaint Review Board and have been collecting quite a few community signatures for one in Trenton. We understand that CCRBs are not a perfect solution, but it is a start in giving the community the training and power needed to start looking for a better way than what we have now ... civic bullies. We will be continuing this dialogue in the coming weeks.

— Shana Langley, Coordinating

Organizer, BLM-NJ/Trenton