By Julia Asby
MANHATTAN, NY – Dan Quart, running for Manhattan District Attorney on a platform that encourages prosecutors to speak out against police misconduct and change the culture of the prosecutor’s office, publicly commented on the recent shooting of Adam Toledo this past week.
Quart criticized the prosecutor’s office statement saying that Toledo had a gun, when in fact Toledo was unarmed. Quart believes that this type of broken culture that rewards prosecutors for winning cases rather than promoting public safety or fairness
An article in Slate magazine described how in New York the prosecutors protect NYPD officers to secure a conviction: “prosecutors rely on officer testimony, true or not, to secure convictions, and merely acknowledging the problem would require the government to admit that there is almost never real punishment for police perjury.”
This broken culture leads to further mistrust and friction between the public and the justice system, said Quart.
The article in Slate also criticized prosecutors who keep secret databases of unreliable police officers.
Quart pressured DA Cy Vance to release the list of officers who have credibility issues in an effort to promote transparency and accountability within the DA’s office. Quart was also an outspoken critic of 50-a, which prohibited access to police misconduct records, and he fought to have 50-a repealed.
Quart believes that the District Attorney will only be able to hold police accountable when the culture within the DA’s office changes from using dishonest testimony and shielding police misconduct records.
Quart is a top pro bono attorney in New York City, and is also a New York State Assembly member. He was raised by working class parents, a public school teacher and social worker who taught him from a young age the importance of public service.
If elected, Quart has promised he will fight to end mass incarceration, hold law enforcement accountable for police brutality, and ensure all Manhattanites feel safe.
Julia Asby is a third year student at UC Davis majoring in Political Science with a minor in Sociocultural Anthropology. She is originally from Sacramento.
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