NYPD Captain Tweets Warnings About Felons Released From Prison

[MJS]

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/201...bout-felons-despite-their-release-from-prison

CARROLL GARDENS — An NYPD commander is using Twitter to distribute the names and mugshots of convicts recently returned to his neighborhood after serving prison sentences — and his actions could result in a lawsuit.
Capt. Jeffrey Schiff, commanding officer of the 76th Precinct, which covers Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and part of Gowanus, said his goal is to protect his community and keep residents safe.
But his actions, though praised by some local residents, have caused privacy concerns among others and provoked the threat of a lawsuit from Legal Aid.
"Everyone can absorb this information and intelligently assimilate it and look out for their neighbors and look out for their community," Schiff said in an interview with DNAinfo New York.
"The only way to get the community involvement that I'm looking for is to let people know what's going on in the precinct."

IMO, I don't see anything wrong with this. Sounds like the bad guys don't want people who know what they did.

 

[Uncle]

And if they were wrongly convicted or have genuinely reformed? You're going to have a community isolating them and treating them like scum and forcing them back into the domain which led to their incarceration to begin with.

 

[MJS]

And if they were wrongly convicted or have genuinely reformed? You're going to have a community isolating them and treating them like scum and forcing them back into the domain which led to their incarceration to begin with.

Of course if they are wrongly convicted, such as we've seen many times in the past, there should be proof of that, thus it should eliminate or at least lessen the impression the public has of them. As for being forced back...well, IMHO, I don't think that anyone forces anyone to do anything.

I believe though, that alot of things are readily available right online, free of charge or available for a small fee.

 

[ballen0351]

And if they were wrongly convicted or have genuinely reformed? You're going to have a community isolating them and treating them like scum and forcing them back into the domain which led to their incarceration to begin with.

Arrest information is public record. You can look up anyone's arrest information. Most states have it online now. You go to a website and can look up anyone you want and see every arrest speeding ticket divorce and protective orders.

 

[Touch Of Death]

And if they were wrongly convicted or have genuinely reformed? You're going to have a community isolating them and treating them like scum and forcing them back into the domain which led to their incarceration to begin with.

Yes, this is the case. However, the alternative is surreptitiously slipping known felons into affluent neighborhoods.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Is he releasing any information that is not already available to the public? If so, then that's a problem. If not, then there is no problem.

Yes, I really do think it's that simple.

 

[arnisador]

Sounds like harassment to me. If one of those felons is killed he'll surely be sued.

Hounding the released is poor policy. Let's try to reduce recidivism, not increase it.

 

[ballen0351]

Sounds like harassment to me. If one of those felons is killed he'll surely be sued.

Hounding the released is poor policy. Let's try to reduce recidivism, not increase it.

So are sex offender databases harassment? That was the same argument people made about them. Oh no someone will kill them blah blah blah.

 

[arnisador]

I'm not overly exercised about this, but I don't think it's good public policy. Sex offenders have such a high recidivism rate that a separate case can be made, but don't call me to tell me Bernie Madoff was just released.

 

[ballen0351]

According to the story he only releases names of people that have shown to have serious recidivism most have been arrested over 30 times

 

[arnisador]

According to the story he only releases names of people that have shown to have serious recidivism most have been arrested over 30 times

That seems rather more reasonable, then.