NYPD cops under pressure to arrest somebody, anybody, facts be damned

[DetlefK]

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/09/24/3705061/new-york-cops-have-been-jailing-handymen-for-years-for-carrying-pocketknives/

The New York law bans “gravity knives,” which are defined as “any knife which has a blade which is released from the handle or sheath thereof by the force of gravity or the application of centrifugal force which, when released, is locked in place by means of a button, spring, lever or other device.”

...

This has led to some absurd arrests, according to facts laid out in an opinion by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In one case, an art dealer named Pedro Perez was arrested after police spotted him carrying a knife he had purchased at a Manhattan outdoor supplies store. Though Perez claims that “the charging officers were unable themselves to flick open Perez’s knife,” they still charged him will illegally possessing a gravity knife “based on the possibility that someone could do so.”

...

An analysis conducted by the Village Voice estimates that “there have been as many as 60,000 gravity-knife prosecutions over the past decade, and that the rate has more than doubled in that time.” Indeed, if this estimate is accurate, “it’s enough to place gravity-knife offenses among the top 10 most prosecuted crimes in New York City.”

The Village Voice also suggests one possible reason why these arrests have proliferated. Officers are under significant pressure to rack up arrests. As one officer told a rookie on an online message board for law enforcement, “be on the lookout for ‘GKs'” and “make sure they have a prior conviction so you can bump it up to that felony!!!”

[msongs]

1. we've gotta fill all those democrat and republican mandated for profit jails nt