NY Times: Complaints of police abuse against black residents during Cory Booker's Newark tenure [View all]

[Buzz Lightyear]

Newark’s mayor, Cory Booker, had swept into office in 2006 pledging a safer city through zero tolerance on crime. And while killings actually rose in his first year, over the next three they fell to historic lows. Yet grievances against the police were piling up in the city’s black wards, with allegations of racial profiling, unlawful stops and excessive force. The A.C.L.U. and local activists pressed for reforms, complaining about pushback from Mr. Booker, whose administration was promoting the plunging homicide rate.
And when the A.C.L.U. finally went public with its plea to the Justice Department, the mayor went on WNYC radio, telling an interviewer that the petition was “one of the worst ways” to bring about meaningful change. “We don’t need people who are going to frustrate, undermine and mischaracterize our agency,” he added.

...

Ultimately, the Justice Department intervened at the A.C.L.U.’s request and Mr. Booker came around, calling the investigation a “win-win” for the city. That inquiry would document a pattern of unconstitutional behavior by the Newark police: Three-quarters of pedestrian stops failed to meet the legal criteria, and blacks were at least 2.5 times more likely than whites to be stopped or arrested. The police department remains under a Justice Department consent decree.

More: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/27/us/politics/cory-booker-newark.html