Let’s say you’re arrested for something you didn’t do. And after prosecutors realize you’re the incorrect guy,the case is dismissed. The records of that arrest are supposed to be sealed under state law.
But the Bronx Defenders, a public defender and advocacy organization, and alleges the NYPD keeps information about those sealed arrests in its databases and routinely uses the information to target people – some never convicted of a crime – and also discloses sealed records to prosecutors and the media. In response,the group filed a lesson action lawsuit in state court in Manhattan nowadays.“We have a concern that the NYPD might be, in part, and deciding where to send its resources based on sealed arrest records,” said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director of impact litigation at the Bronx Defenders.
The concern is particularly acute in an era where police departments are increasingly turning to gigantic data and algorithms to target people and communities. Borchetta described a feedback loop where a person of color is arrested for a low level infraction because of overpolicing in their neighborhood, or the charges are dismissed and yet,they are later targeted again because the mere fact of their first arrest puts them in the system.
One of the unnamed plaintiffs in the lawsuit was a teenager living in Wappinger Falls. He was working at a chain restaurant when he was arrested for allegedly robbing a livery driver in the Bronx in April 2015. A witness had picked the plaintiff’s photo out of an array the NYPD prepared of Hispanic males ages 15 to 19.
But according to the lawsuit, the photo was taken after a 2011 arrest that had been dismissed. The Bronx Defenders allege the photo should have been destroyed or returned to the plaintiff, or never included in the lineup. Ultimately,the robbery charges were dismissed as well.
The NYPD declined to comment. The city’s Law Department released a statement: “We’ll review the lawsuit and respond in the litigation.”
Source: wnyc.org