The Free Thought Project – by John Vibes
New York, NY — NYPD police have recently been showing how compassionate they are by taking photos of homeless people and publicly shaming them online. The activity is not only condoned by the department, but it is being sanctioned and encouraged by high-ranking officials at the NYPD.
The ironically named “Sergeants Benevolent Association” sent out an email this week, ordering both police officers and their families to take photos of homeless people in embarrassing situations so they can later be posted publicly.
“As you travel about the city of New York, please utilize your smartphones to photograph the homeless lying in our streets, aggressive panhandlers, people urinating in public or engaging in open-air drug activity, and quality-of-life offenses of every type,” SBA President Ed Mullins said in the email.
The letter went on to criticize the fact that police are being filmed more and more recently and suggested that it is now time to turn the cameras back on the public.
“Shouldn’t accountability go both ways? We, the ‘Good Guys,’ are sworn to protect our citizens. Shouldn’t our public officials be held to the same standard?” the email read.
According to the email, the photos are intended to motivate politicians to “do something about the homeless problem,” but what they actually want to be done is unclear. Do they want laws that outright ban homelessness? Or just more power, in general, to use against the population?
The email cites examples of public urination and drug use, but these are activities that police are already arresting people for, so it seems that they may be pushing for more strict and specific laws against homelessness.
The letter railed against “failed policies, more homeless encampments on city streets, a 10 percent increase in homicides, and the diminishing of our hard-earned and well-deserved public perception of the safest large city in America…. Attempts to pass self-promoting agendas are not the answer to building relationships with communities who don’t trust the police. It only serves to lie to people who are trying to live life and share in a piece of the American Dream.”
One of the “failed policies” that Mullins was critical of was the recently proposed “Right to Know Act,” which would require cops to get permission from a suspect before conducting a search without probable cause for arrest.
Sadly, this sick NYPD homework assignment was even praised by the NYPost, who also seemed to have no compassion for the homeless population of New York City.
The police are now collecting all of the photos in a public Flikr album.
Below are some of the photos uploaded to their album. After looking through their photos, the only one deserving to be publicly shamed in this situation, is the NYPD.
John Vibes is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter-culture and the drug war. In addition to his writing and activist work, he organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference, which features top caliber speakers and whistle-blowers from all over the world. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can find his 65 chapter Book entitled “Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance” at bookpatch.com.
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/nypd-ordered-publicly-shame-homeless-posting-photos-online/#LZeTL9zqfuCFPpA3.99
The NYPD is only shaming themselves with this act of gross stupidity.
The homeless generally don’t have computers in the refrigerator boxes they live in, so nothing posted on the internet is going to shame them. Do the idiots at NYPD think the homeless are all going to find full time work and rent apartments for $2000 per month because their photo is on line?
This is the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a month. These people eat out of the garbage, defecate in public, smell like they died weeks ago, and the NYPD thinks that putting their photo on line is going to cause them unbearable shame.
Even the high-ranking policy makers are still dumb cops.
I agree wholeheartedly JR. While in total disregard of any circumstances that may have led to the homelessness, like our predatory economic policies, stupidity as such only shows the brazen, cave-man like thinking of those in charge. I’d take pictures of pigs taking pictures to shame them.
My first thought was, what homeless person is going to see these pictures? And what cop is going to delay arresting and probably beating, a person doing drugs in public to take a picture?
I am so very glad I got out of that stupid state. At least my state now has a few years until we catch up to ny in the stupidity deperatment.
Proof the NYPD are a bunch of assholes…
ONE state I read about has a program now to get the homeless INTO HOMES. They reported it is working out well for both the homeless and the city.
NY SHOULD TAKE LESSONS.
“… it seems that they may be pushing for more strict and specific laws against homelessness.”
This would be the crux of the matter.
Get a load of what they call it!
“Photos for the SBA’s Peek-a-Boo, We See You! initiative can be emailed to peekaboo@sbanyc.org.”
http://nypost.com/2015/08/10/cops-are-taking-pictures-of-bums-and-posting-them-online/
http://gawker.com/nypd-union-uses-flickr-in-innovative-new-push-to-shame-1723474170
http://pix11.com/2015/08/10/officers-told-to-take-pictures-of-nyc-homeless-post-them-online/
NYPD Union Responds To Calls For Reform By Shaming The Homeless
Memo calls officials fighting for police accountability “inept and spineless.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nypd-union-homeless_55ca27dbe4b0f1cbf1e656b7
” ‘You can’t have aggressive panhandling going on in the City of New York, the amount of homeless people that are begging on the streets of the city, people urinating and defecating in places that they shouldn’t be. It’s not fair to the people that we represent, people that we serve.’ He seems to have forgotten that the homeless fall into that category, as well.”
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/08/nypd-union-tells-cops-to-photograph-homeless.html
I meant to paste this quote above the the link to the Gawker story (second link in my 5:31 pm post) but I didn’t get it done in time.
“If you happen to see an officer in uniform pulling out his smartphone to snap a hilarious pic of someone sleeping on the sidewalk, we encourage you to take your own photo of the scene. And in the spirit of “Peek-a-Boo, We See You!”, why not send it to us?”
http://gawker.com/nypd-union-uses-flickr-in-innovative-new-push-to-shame-1723474170
What do you expect from Zionist cops?