Nick Turner, president and director of the Vera Institute of Justice, was appointed by Judge Shira Scheindlin to help court-ordered monitor Peter Zimroth and facilitate the remedies Scheindlin ordered to the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practice.
Credit: Vera Institute of Justice
The federal court-appointed monitor ordered by Judge Shira Scheindlin in her Floyd v. City of New York ruling officially has a sidekick.
Scheindlin appointed Nicholas Turner, president of the Vera Institute of Justice, to work with the monitor she appointed, Peter Zimroth, and facilitate the city and the NYPD’s compliance with the remedies Scheindlin ordered in her decision calling for reforms to the controversial police practice of stop-and-frisk.
Turner has a long history working with issues at the intersection of race and criminal justice: from his early work with the Sasha Bruce Youthwork organization in D.C. working with troubled homeless youth to his position at the Rockefeller Center where he worked on projects promoting racial and socioeconomic integration in New Orleans through approaches with a similar focus on citizen participation to the proposals put forward for stop-and-frisk reform.
In a statement, Turner expressed enthusiasm at the opportunity to focus those energies on bettering New York City, as a Brooklyn resident and the son of a Bed-Stuy native.
“The safety and health of new Yorkers and their communities are paramount to me,” Turner said, noting he and his wife are raising their sons in Brooklyn and emphasizing his respect for the challenges in ensuring public safety and security in this city.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for the NYPD and its efforts to ensure the safety of all New Yorkers,” he added. “I also have deep respect for the insight that can only come from the residents of the communities where stop-and-frisk is most practiced.”
In her order, Scheindlin noted that the NYPD has a history of collaborating with the Vera Institute: in the early 1980s, they partnered to establish the Community Patrol Officer Program, one of the first community policing programs in the country.
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