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Suffolk-DOJ Policing Agreement: “Good Start, More Digging Needed”

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Wednesday, December 18, 2013   

NEW YORK - Immigrant advocacy groups say the Justice Department policing agreement just approved by Suffolk County lawmakers is a good first step.

The agreement is the result of four years of federal scrutiny into hate crimes that Amol Sinha, director of the Suffolk County chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, described as having been "basically ignored" by Suffolk County police. Sinha said the agreement puts steps in place to ensure the Suffolk County Police Department is more responsive from now on.

"It calls for responses to allegations of discriminatory tactics, for training on cultural sensitivity and bias-free policing, meaningful language access and robust community engagement," he said.

The 2008 beating and stabbing murder of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero sparked the federal probe. The Justice Department agreement was approved Tuesday by a unanimous vote by the Suffolk County Legislature.

A second agreement may need to be crafted, said Foster Maer, senior litigation counsel for the group Latino Justice, because this one leaves a big question mark on some 40 hate crime cases in the county - for issues such as who committed the crimes, and why local cops didn't go after them.

"There's still more digging to be done here," he said. "Why were those cries for investigation never investigated? Something went wrong and we just don't know what it is - and until we know that, we don't know if the right remedy has been achieved."

Sinha said current County Executive Steve Bellone has set a more welcoming tone for minorities in Suffolk County, but he agreed there is still work to be done.

"Suffolk County has had a history of anti-immigrant sentiment coming from the top, coming from the County Executive's office," he said. "We can't forget that shameful history, and to move forward we have to keep in mind what happened in the past so that we don't revert back to the old days."

The Hagedorn Foundation's Joselo Lucero, the younger brother of hate crime victim Marcelo Lucero, said of the agreement, "Marcelo's death wasn't in vain. This is the beginning of change."


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