By Ben Fractenberg
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HARLEM — Andrew Cuomo doesn’t fit the profile for New York's next governor, because he hasn't done enough to stop racial profiling, according to one advocacy group.
“He’s a failure as it relates to the number one issue downstate,” 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care co-founder, retired NYPD Sargeant Noel Leader, said during a Tuesday press conference in Harlem.
“We don’t think he cares about the residents in Harlem,” Leader added.
Leader said his organization — which is made up of past and current law enforcement officers — has met with Attorney General Cuomo several times to ask him do more to investigate complaints of officers suspected of profiling. But so far, Cuomo has declined to aggressively pursue the problem, they said.
“Andrew Cuomo has been silent when it comes to these outrageous abuses,” Leader said.
The Attorney General’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
The group said racial profiling is a rampant problem in New York City, and cited a recent Center for Constitutional Rights study showing 87 percent of people stopped by police in the city in 2009 were African American or Latino. Only six percent of all the stops resulted in an arrest, the study said.
Leader said his organization will not support Cuomo's bid for governor. However, he would not say which, if any, other candidates he would support.
