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GUEST: Roger Wareham, Human Rights Attorney and a member of the December 12th movement

Thousands of protestors marched on New York City’s Fifth Avenue last Saturday to protest the fatal NYPD shooting of 23-year-old Sean Bell in Queens, New York, more than three weeks ago on his wedding day. His father, William Bell is calling for a special prosecutor to be put in charge of the investigation of his son’s death and for police Commissioner Ray Kelly to resign. While conceding that police used “excessive force” in firing 50 shots, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said Kelly would not resign. Meanwhile, in the weeks since Bell was shot, arrests have dropped by about 40% in Queens. Some experts said the drop reflected police officers’ reluctance to face another confrontation in a neighborhood charged with racial tension after the shooting. Police arrested 323 people in the Jamaica area of Queens in one month alone, between November and December of this year. In 2005, police arrested 535 people during the same period.

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