Crime + Punishment (2018)

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Crime + Punishment was released on August 24, 2018, in the USA. The American documentary film was produced by Stephen Main, Ross Tuttle, and Eric Daniel Metzgar. The movie storyline was directed by Stephen Maing. The movie was based on the investigation of the NYPD officers to expose the truth about fulfilling illegal quota practices in NYPD[1].

Crime + Punishment Poster[2]

Plot

12 officers of the New York Police Department (NYPD) tries to expose the truth of monthly quotas for arrests and summonses. The police target high-crime neighborhoods specifically, African American teenagers between 14 to 21 years old. The arrest of falsely accused generate millions of dollar in revenue for New York. The revenue can come from fines and bails. This practice has become a money generator by arresting many young African Americans. Moreover, the NYPD senior management persists in capturing African Americans even dismissing several NYPD officers for not following their orders. The senior management would put officers on foot patrol in the middle of the winter, giving a negative performance evaluation, and assigning them to unwanted divisions and shifts. While the officers who acquire many African Americans and other minorities get promoted and a great career. In one certain case, Pedro Hernandez, a young African American, is accused of shooting despite the witness says he is innocent. After a year, the case is dismissed and Pedro Hernandez is released with the assistance of Gomez, an ex-NYPD officer who becomes a private investigator. In the end, they collaborate with 12 officers of the New York Police Department (NYPD) in exposing the truth of monthly quotas for arrests and summonses.[3].

Black Empowerment

These 12 police officers who are including Edwin Raymond; Felicia Whitely; Adhyl Polanco; Perdo Serrano; Derick Waller; Ritchie Baez; Julio Diaz; and Kareem Abdullah; fights racism and corruption with their own justice. They fight racism and corruption by exposing the truth of the NYPD system. It can be seen such as Sandy Hernazed, a 12-year cop veteran, who does not want to keep his arrest quota up by falsely accused. He does not receive any promotion and even gets dismissed to unwanted shifts and divisions. He records the session where his superiors threaten him for not rising his quota up. Another case is Edwin Raymond, who also passed over for promotion due to his reluctance to raise his arrest numbers. He also records the actions of the superior and threat him to juice up the number of arrests of African Americans and minorities. In the end, they become the whistleblower and become the true public servant who would support everyone including minorities with a sense of trust[4]

Controversy

One scene shows that actually, the superior officer of NYPD says to arrest and target for stop-and-frisk of Black and brown people between 14 to 21 years old. Not only that, the film shows where the 12 NYPD talks about Eric Garner, who died due to a fatal chokehold after being approached by an NYPD officer in 2014[5]. Raymond portrays the city as Ferguson on steroids which he says "New York City is Ferguson on steroids, the reality is, law enforcement uses black bodies to generate revenue"[6].

References