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By Victoria Bekiempis
Senior Writer
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Jazmine Outlaw, 20, was elected president of the 101st Precinct Community Council in Far Rockaway, Queens on Wednesday night--potentially paving the way for improved dialogue between police and youth of color across New York City.
Outlaw may be the youngest candidate elected as a New York Police Department Community Council president, according to advocates for grassroots NYPD reform. The NYPD said it doesn't have an official age for the youngest community council president.
Outlaw, an activist with the Rockaway Youth Task Force, might also be the first Precinct Community Council president associated with Black Lives Matter, according to Josmar Trujillo, an organizer with New Yorkers Against Bratton, an NYPD-reform group. (Black Lives Matter bills itself as "a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society.")
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The Precinct Community Councils, which date to the 1940s, allow area residents to meet monthly with the precinct commanding officer and community affairs officers to discuss public-safety concerns, according to the NYPD.
Community Council leadership and attendees skew to an older demographic. And due to ongoing tensions between cops and communities of color, especially youth, young people are often uncomfortable discussing problems with community affairs officers, Outlaw has said.
"Just having someone young up there that can relate with what they're going through would be helpful...to make sure those issues are addressed and that their concerns are heard and that there's a conversation," Outlaw told Newsweek before the election.
Outlaw on Thursday morning said her victory gave her a "sense of joy" and "honor."
"I'm really just excited to be able to be a part of the change that I want to see in this community," she said. "It's really a rewarding feeling."
At the top of Outlaw's agenda when the 101st Precinct Community Council reconvenes this fall: changing meeting locations. Presently, the council meets across the street from the 101st Precinct, deterring potential attendees who might not feel comfortable going into the station house, she said.
Victor Boamah, Outlaw's only opponent, congratulated her when reached by phone Wednesday after the election.
"History was made tonight," said Boahmah, 24, who works at the Queens Library and Rockaway YMCA. He said he will continue his community activism, including in the 101st Precinct Community Council. "I'm still an active member and that's not going to change."
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