|
Dear Friends,
We’re off to a busy start in 2010. Here are some highlights
of our most recent front-line battles for liberty...
1. Newark’s new police
fleet needs dashboard cameras.
Earlier this month Newark officials unveiled 40 new police
cars outfitted with impressive new technologies, but they
overlooked an essential tool for accountability: dashboard
cameras. Installing dashboard cameras promises Newarkers
that no one - not the Mayor, the City Council nor the Police
Department - will tolerate police abuse of citizens or
citizens’ abuse of police.
Read
my op-ed from The Star Ledger about the
importance of dashboard cameras to police accountability.
2. ACLU represents
Attorneys General in fight to end blanket strip searches.
Last week we filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of
five former New Jersey Attorneys General opposing blanket
strip search policies in Burlington County and Essex County
jails. The jails’ policies impose strip searches of people
charged – but not convicted - with minor offenses even when
guards do not suspect them of hiding anything. Routine strip
searches contribute little to jail security, can subject
detainees to needless humiliation, and violate the
Constitution.
You can
read the press release at the ACLU-NJ website.
3. Invasion of the body
scanners. President Barack Obama
announced this month that Newark Liberty International
Airport will be among the first of many to receive body
scanners. Body scanners reveal graphic images of passengers'
naked bodies, invading our privacy and imposing on our
personal lives. What’s more: they don’t work.
You can
read more about why body scanners are not only invasive but
ineffective in
my op-ed from The Asbury Park Press.
Liberty and security work as a team.
Thanks to all of you for your passion and commitment to all
of our issues,
Deborah
P.S. Celebrate our 50th Anniversary with us at our 2010
Supreme Court Briefing on March 25.
The National ACLU Legal Director shares insights about the
U.S. Supreme Court’s year in civil liberties, including ACLU
cases. The ACLU-NJ honors the law firm Lowenstein Sandler
and NJN’s Due Process for their impact on justice in New
Jersey. Also get a sneak peak of
The ACLU
of New Jersey: On the Front Lines of Freedom,
a short documentary about our work.
RSVP at www.aclu-RSVP nj.org/events, or call 973-642-2086
|
