FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Kristia Winter
718-629-2900 / KWinter@council.nyc.gov
BROOKLYN, NY — Today, Council Member Farah N. Louis (D-Brooklyn) introduced two bills intended to increase public safety during the first-ever virtual Stated Meeting of the New York City Council.
Towards the close of 2019, numerous reports shook our communities when a multitude of women had gone missing, exposing a larger systemic issue that had not gathered enough attention. From Brooklyn to the Bronx, hundreds if not thousands of black and brown girls have vanished without a trace.
The COVID-19 pandemic has ravished and devastated our City and Country, now becoming our greatest battle to tackle. Unfortunately, as a result, the stories of missing young women have taken a back seat. Today, the historic Stated meeting of the New York City Council allowed us to bring this important conversation back to the forefront.
The lack of necessary reporting data has hindered our ability to identify trends and hot spots; inform the public; or bolster resources that will help the NYPD prevent and/or pursue any perpetrators responsible for the disappearance of our loved ones.
Girls and young women of color are being targeted, followed, harassed, and/or abducted on their way to school, work, home, and especially in the shopping centers. The few who do manage to escape are traumatized yet courageous enough to share their dangerous encounters with strange men and vans in the hopes that the information could help protect another potential victim.
“I have received calls, messages via text and social media, from families pleading for help in sharing photos of their loved ones or calling the local precinct for updates on their investigation. Our communities are in a state of crisis, and yet the outrage that one would expect has never surfaced, because the data that would truly help us understand the gravity of the situation is non-existent,” said Council Member Farah N. Louis, Co-Chair of the Women’s Caucus.
Missing persons of color have been dismissed as runaways and garnered little or no media coverage. Until this crisis hits too close to home, no one can ever understand the anguish of families desperately searching for their loved ones, retracing their steps, exhausting all resources, yet unsure of whether they will ever be reunited.
More needs to be done in communities of color to make our streets safer for all. Because of this, today Council Member Louis introduced two pieces of legislation: Intro 1929 and Intro 1928.
Intro 1929 would create a public alert system to be used in missing persons cases where the person is believed to be in imminent danger.
Although we have Amber and Silver Alert systems in place, no such alert exists for missing people over the age of 18 who are not elderly, suffer from a cognitive disorder or mental disability. There is a chronic issue with a lack of urgency in exploring any potential leads during the crucial 24 to 48-hour window when adults are reported missing, even with substantial indicators that the person may be in danger.
Intro 1928 would require the NYPD to compile, send, and post a yearly missing persons report, disaggregated by race, age, gender, police precinct, percent of cases solved, and proportion of which cases involved human trafficking.
This data would provide valuable insight that would shed some light on the real threats such as human traffickers that exist right in our own backyard and inform how we as a City can do better to eradicate this problem and keep families whole.
New York City Council Member Farah N. Louis represents the 45th Council District, which is comprised of Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Marine Park, Flatlands, & Kensington in Brooklyn, NY. She is a member of the committees on Civil Service and Labor; Economic Development; Education; Finance; Housing and Buildings; Youth Services; and Justice System. Council Member Louis is the Co-Chair of the Women’s Caucus and Vice Co-Chair of the Black, Latino/a, and Asian Caucus.
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