AABANY Hosts Screening of the Documentary “Blowin’ Up”

On Thursday, April 11, AABANY hosted a screening of “Blowin’ Up,” a feature documentary that explores the complex realities of sex work in New York City and the compassionate approach of a human trafficking court in Queens County. The film features AABANY member Honorable Toko Serita, Queens Supreme Court, as well as other heroines of the Human Trafficking Intervention Court, that work with victims of sexual exploitation who face prostitution-related charges.

After the screening, Beatrice Leong, AABANY Government Service and Public Interest Committee Co-Chair, led a panel discussion featuring speakers from the NYPD/FBI Joint Human Trafficking Task Force and a Queens Assistant District Attorney who prosecutes human traffickers. The panelists talked about how they worked together to prosecute the traffickers and how one can identify and help a suspected trafficking victim. The panel gave important insight into how gangs and traffickers target their victims, and the audience learned that many victims are new immigrants, local high school students or children in the foster care system. “Drugs can only be used once, but a person can be used over and over.”

If you suspect someone is a victim of trafficking,  you can email New York Police Department, at [email protected] or visit https://www1.nyc.gov/site/acs/youth/identify.page to report them.

We thank Beatrice Leong and Emily Arakawa for providing the photos and write-up for this blog post.

NYPD Policy Questionnaire from MBBA

The NYPD wants your input on an important NYPD policy before it is finalized: their body camera policy.

The NYPD will equip 1,000 officers in 20 precincts with body-worn cameras.  In partnership with the Policing Project at NYU School of Law, the Department is seeking input into the policy that will govern the use of the cameras from the people who live, work or go to school in New York City through an online questionnaire.

The questionnaire may be completed in minutes and is mobile-friendly. The questionnaire may be found at  www.nypdbodycameras.org. There you will also find the Department’s proposed policy in full and in summary form. The questionnaire is designed to get feedback on the core policy issues the Department must address and it also provides an opportunity for the participant to provide narrative comments.

The site will remain open until July 31, 2016.  NYU will collect the responses and comments and provide a report to the NYPD for the Department’s consideration in drafting the final policy.

Please give your input, and please share this blog post with other members of your organization or community. 

Thanks to MBBA for sharing this important questionnaire with us.

How to Support the Families of Officers Liu and Ramos

NAPABA has received inquiries about donating funds to support the family of slain NYPD Detective Wenjian Liu, who has been reported to be the first Chinese-American NYPD officer killed in the line of duty.  Detective Liu and his partner, Detective Rafael Ramos, were shot to death on December 20, 2014, while sitting in their squad car in Brooklyn.  

After reaching out to APA-serving organizations, NAPABA recommends the following funds to its members:

The NYPD Asian Jade Society has established a fund to support Detective Liu’s family.  Detective Liu was a member of this organization for Asian Americans members of the NYPD.  Donations can be made by checks payable to “PO Wen Jian Liu Family c/o NYPD Asian Jade Society” and mailed to NYPD Asian Jade Society, P.O. Box 969, Peck Slip Station, New York, NY 10272. 

The New York Daily News has established the Ramos-Liu Fund.  All funds will be directed to the slain officers’ families.  More information is available here:  http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/donations-ramos-liu-fund-climbed-384-349-article-1.2065893.

The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation has established a fund to pay the mortgages of the Ramos and Liu families’ homes.  More information is available here:  http://tunnel2towers.org/.

AABANY to Honor Two Asian American Trailblazers on June 28

AABANY to Honor Two Asian American Trailblazers on June 28