He spoke out about it earlier this year: the New York police uses a secret quota policy. Officers are given quotas for arrests and fines, which leads them to go after hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians every year. If you are black or latino, the chances that you are wrongly arrested are especially high.
Police sergeant Edreweene (Edwin) Raymond takes a sip of his coffee, which has already turned cold. "This police policy is a ticking time bomb. It's just a matter of time before we have another hashtag. "
You'd never expect this man to be at the center of one of the most controversial lawsuits of the moment.
We're seated in a small eatery in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Edwin's long dreadlocks are tied back in a loose ponytail. Looking at him now, relaxed, dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants – "gym mode" he calls it – you'd never expect this man to be at the center of one of the most controversial lawsuits of the moment.
Yet Edwin Raymond is the chief prosecutor in Raymond versus the City of New York - a class action lawsuit he filed filed against the New York Police Department last year, together with eleven other black and Latino officers. Not a simple task, as the NYPD denies the existence of the hidden policy at all levels. Agents who (publicly) speak out against it can expect all sorts of retaliation.
Read the full article in Dutch here
Originally published on De Correspondent – November 29, 2016