Staten Island’s Senator Scarcella-Spanton: CREEP Act To Protect Victims Of Stalking, Harassment; Retiree Healthcare Can Be Protected By NY Senate
Staten Island’s Senator Scarcella-Spanton: CREEP Act To Protect Victims Of Stalking, Harassment; Retiree Healthcare Can Be Protected By NY Senate
Editor’s note: For Staten Islanders interested in learning more about harassment and stalking as it relates to the workplace and present laws around employer responsibility, check out our interview with Legal Momentum.
Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, also known as Senator Jess, represents Staten island and parts of Brooklyn in the New York State Senate. We talked with the senator about the CREEP Act and about healthcare for Retirees and the Senate bill that can protect them.
The CREEP Act is an acronym for Ceasing Repeated Extremely Egregious Predatory Behavior. Its aim is simple: to provide victims of stalking and harassment whose perpetrators aren’t related to or formerly in a relationship with them with a way to protect themselves.
Stalking is a real thing. For many people, it’s all too real. One day, out of nowhere, someone decides they hate you – and want to ruin your life and everything they can in it. And you don’t know them, and you’ve never done anything to them. Welcome to the weird world of stranger/ neighbor harassment and stalking.
One of the reasons it is so prevalent is that there IS right now nothing you can do about it. If your neighbor knocks on your door a hundred times (it’s not illegal to knock on a door)… if they call your phone every day…. it’s not illegal to call someone…if they show up at your job… There are many examples from celebrities, politicians, and ordinary Americans. Keep in mind, this is someone you don’t actually know. Often it’s a neighbor. Sometimes it’s random strangers. It can even happen to elected officials and celebrities, perhaps most famously Pete Davidson and Taylor Swift. But they do things that are within the law, that they know they can’t get arrested for. So they can shine a light into your doorway or a camera from their yard. As long as they don’t come into your house to install it, it’s legal. If they follow you around the neighborhood, that, too, isn’t illegal.
In some states, however, these things can be demonstrated as a pattern of harassment or stalking. It is the pattern that makes the behavior rise to the level of warranting a civil restraining order. However, in New York State, there is no such law. As long as there is no violence, there is nothing that police or other law enforcement can do.
The perpetrators of stalking and harassment are often people who are very familiar with the law. For example, did you know that going into someone else’s car, as long as there’s no obvious evidence of forced entry such as a broken window, is not an arrestable offense. Not only that, but if you accost such a person, putting your hands on them even just to keep them there until police arrive, YOU can be arrested, and they won’t be. This is in New York right now how the law is written.
This new law, the CREEP Act, would change that. In the same way as someone who is in a domestic relationship and is being stalked can present their evidence before a judge, so could someone who isn’t related or in a relationship, with this new law. When going before a judge, such victims will often have a preponderance of evidence, actual proof that the stalking is happening. But instead of being required to wait until violence occurs, you can protect yourself. A judge can issue a restraining order against the perpetrator.
As it stands today, police are powerless to help a stalking victim until they become violent. However, in domestic situations, it is understood that one should not have to wait until that point. Without family restraining orders, those who want to cause harm to their significant other would find it much easier to escalate their harassment into violence. But in order to protect primarily women and children – and some men who are abused – these types of restraining orders were put in place.
As it turns out, they are very effective. Between 30 and 80% of the time, the perpetrator does not become violent when this is present, and often stops bothering the victim when a restraining order is granted. They don’t want to go to jail. Of course, there are cases where this doesn’t happen. In New Jersey recently, a man shot his ex, her new boyfriend, and himself. This was recently in the news. In the case of Nathaniel Deen, whose story we have covered, a restraining order did not prevent the tragic end his mother suffered at the hands of his father. There are people in relationships that are unhealthy, where they believe themselves to possess another, and if they can’t have them, no one can.
It has become understood that people who stalk others have boundary issues, and in most cases, it does escalate to either heavier harassment or outright violence. It rarely stays as it is. That’s why this law is so essential. It gives victims of stalking a way to protect themselves, by simply allowing them to obtain civil restraining orders if a judge agrees with them.
This bill also provides options for victims of online stalking and harassment. The individual responsible can be ordered to stop doing whatever it is they’re doing, whether sending hundreds of emails, posting falsehoods or verbal attacks on social media, or other forms of cyber bullying and harassment. This gives options to people who have been subjected to these kinds of abuse, up until now with impunity.
This bill has already passed the Senate almost unanimously, and New York is following other states who have already done this. The Assembly bill will be in the next legislative session, and Senator Jess is looking forward to working with her Assembly colleagues to get this bill passed.
Retiree Healthcare Battle Could Be Finished Today With Senate’s Help
For those of our readers who have been following the retiree healthcare battle over the past multiple years (basically since 2021, during the pandemic), you are aware that the war is not over. Right now, retired municipal workers at the state and city level are in political limbo. Several of the current Mayoral candidates have stated publicly that they won’t continue to pursue forcing retirees onto Medicare Advantage. But these are just political promises. Without Intro 1096, which is a City Council bill seeking more signers, there is no protection at the city level from a future administration using retired workers as a bargaining chip for better pay and benefits for active workers. None at all. Just political promises.
If the bill before the NY Senate is amended to reflect that date in 2021 before they started being charged illegal copays, and if it is passed, it will solve the question for future generations. No other group of retirees will have to mobilize, organize, and sue the city or state in order to keep the healthcare choice that was orally promised to them. Since the promise wasn’t in actual writing, the court has declared that it isn’t binding.
So every new group of retired city or state workers is at the whim of incoming politicians and their unions looking for ways to pay for active worker raises and other benefits. Since retired workers are not active workers, they have no protections. These labor laws were written when people didn’t live to retirement quite so often, and many union employees didn’t live to an old age either. So now, no one protects them.
In addition, no one could protect them as an umbrella group if they wanted to. Unions are given complete access to the names and personally identifying information of all employees of a company or the city. A group that wants to protect retired workers is on their own. They have to find the people themselves through other means that are really difficult, especially for older people. Or the people can find them. But as it is today, there is no law allowing retired workers to form an actual union to protect themselves. Marianne was able to form the organization she runs, and was able to find many retired workers through their younger relatives, Facebook posts, Youtube videos, and many other methods. The retired workers who are members are basically paying lawyer’s fees to defend their healthcare choice. They want to have the choice between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
And, at the time in 2021, their unions used the retired workers’ health insurance after retirement as a bargaining chip to get raises for their active workers. The unions used the fund that was supposed to pay that 20% insurance premium left over with traditional Medicare. With Medicare Advantage, this isn’t the case. The premium is free.
The catch is that the Advantage insurers make their money by charging the federal government a premium for each person – while also denying most claims, regardless of how necessary they might be. In addition, they try to encourage healthy habits- such as with gym memberships and other perks. However, as anyone with older relatives knows, this can be very difficult to do. And most older adults aren’t willing to be proactive about their health. They prefer to wait until they get sick and then take medicine. The problem with that is that with Medicare Advantage, the company denies everything, while at the same time requiring preapproval in most cases. So this delays care which might be life saving.
Traditional Medicare doesn’t pay premiums to insurance companies for enrollees. They pay when services are provided, and they negotiate directly with providers for the best possible price. Consequently, Medicare Advantage not only costs the government more than traditional Medicare, but it also provides less care overall and lower quality of care due to denials and delays. It also made it so that private insurance companies could get involved in Medicare, which was previously a directly government run type of healthcare for decades. Instead, they allow private insurance companies to become gatekeepers for the medical care those on their plans can receive. While this may be fine for some people, others need actual health insurance that pays for their claims. This is what traditional Medicare provides. Readers can learn more about this aspect of the question below:
View the video above to learn more about both of these topics.
Banner Image: Video cover. Image Credit – Staten Islander News
Staten Islander News Service Staff Writer
This byline indicates that this article was penned by a member/members of the Staten Islander News Organization office team. Our staff writers are the backbone of our newspaper, performing all sorts of important tasks like conducting interviews, investigating leads, besides writing the news stories you see.
I think they should pass this bill. Stalking and harassment should not get a free pass.
I’m ok with this law. I don’t see the harm. We did have a major blind spot in the protections for citizens.
all depends on how they write the law
No way and t* does that even mean bruh? Nonsense. The law needs to be on the books pronto. Without this what are you supposed to do? Vigilante justice is illegal.
Btw, I like the changes at this news site. I had to use a magnifying glass practically. Much clearer text and readability is way higher.
I’m all for it.
How am I the first to post a comment after so long?
This is an important topic. I don’t think there are enough protections in place. I have law enforcement relatives and I’ve always been warned about creepy men. They come in all shapes and sizes and colors. What do these people have in common? Men like that are predators and you have to see their true colors.
I don’t think behavior like that is healthy. It’s mentally ill. Stalking in one way leads to stalking in other ways. I took a class. I learned the statistics. Plus, two uncles being detectives, I know this. They all say it escalates.
I don’t see how any elected person male or female would oppose this. Neither side really should have to put up with stalkers and people who just like to harass.
You weren’t first to comment. We sometimes take a while to approve comments. Each must be approved by someone over here at the main office.
We lost your comment in the pile of pending comments, somehow. Sorry about that 14 day wait! It’s been approved.
T.R.
Junior Assistant Editor
The Staten Island News
Yeah,, Right,, Good strategy for squelching discussion. How can people use the comment section when the privileged few ever get approved right away? If I say something and you take a week to post and then the response takes another two weeks that is ridiculous. “T R” I assume it is YOUR job. Get on the ball already! You are keeping islanders from being able to discuss the articles in a timely fashion. I say your just not doing your job. Well. I mean clearly you’re doing it but you’re not doing your job well.
They’re still freeing up our words. 🙁 I see day by day they approve more and more. What’s the point even? I second this thought. You are a Junior Editor with messed up priorities. Instead of appreciating that the young lady commented, you chide her for believing she was firs tot comment. It’s actually all a commentary on how YOU work. I wonder if you’re even still at that position! Shape up, guy. That is really shabby work I see here and we all see here.
14 day wait? My last comment it took you guys about three monts to clear. And I know I have ohrters in there. WAKE UP! You come on this message board to tell a user that she wasn’t first? Wow. Just wow. You should have been apoligizing first. For the delays to us ALL. You, Mr or Ms or Mrs or Mz “T.R.” suck.
Get the legal pepper spray. You have to make sure you know what is legal in NYC before you buy and commit a crime in even buying the item!
Girls — You need to take self defense classes. Please don’t bother with “show” martial arts, like competitions. Learn an art that is designed to really be used for self defense.
Find a teacher and get private lessons.
Pepper spray is erratic. The wind can defeat you not the perp.
I agree that we need to stop this sort of behavior. Sick guys out there can easily now look you up and then stalk you. So if you are in the public eye that is a real danger. It is not a made-up hazard either. There are plenty of examples of this sort of thing spiraling into something darker. I don’t want to even think about that. I shudder. But the news can show you if you don’t believe me. It can even be some lunatic where you park for work. We all have too many stories. Please support this if you are a woman and if you are not do it for the women in your life who deserve safety and security.
This can happen to anyone, young or old. You don’t have to be a woman. That’s what everyone keeps going back to. But this covers all situations that are not like family or intimate partner.
nah…
bro…it’s a woman thing…
men have T…
testosterone makes you fight back….
who would fight against a law that brings order to an area that was neglected and left communities vulnerable?
makes you wonder….
Please stop making it a “sick guys” issue. Anyone can harass anyone else.
M M
M F
F F
F M
Grow up and stop with the attempts to make it only “sick guys” and giving a pass to everyone else. You’re a teacher. You never had a woman try to f with you? I don’t buy it. In my life, I’ve had more than a couple of harassing individuals who had behavior that seemed to add up to stalking. Out of those, three were women, one was a man. Online this haooens every day. Kids get bullied. Don’t you care? Girls can make girls commit self harm. Please stop with the “sick guys”.
Diana most ppl get stalked ZERO times but you got stalked FOUR!!
What makes you a stalker MAGNET?
Just really curious…
If we use gender, this becomes really complicated! There are 2,450 possible pairs considering all the genders people who acknowledge meaningful genders recognize.
M>>F, NB>>GQ, TG>>TGM, TGF>>AG, PG>>BG, 2S>>DNG, NG>>IG, MG>>QG, TGNC>>GNC, AGC>>SG, DEM>>DEF, AP>>XG, QNB>>TGNB, FTM>>MTF, TGX>>AGNB, NVG>>CNG, CG>>CB, EBG>>LG, OM>>OF, PGNB>>MTG, DNGX>>TGXNB, NBG>>HG, TGNCNB>>AGTG, MGNB>>PGX, TGQ>>GNCQ, QGNB>>M
That’s just 25 possible combinations.
My point is, harassment is harassment and should be a zero tolerance policy on that.
Many people will tell you there are two genders: Male and female. But that’s a different can of worms for a different day!
I think this is a sensible law.
Personally, I think it protects us. I am reading these comments and most are favorable,but a few show that some people really are just afraid of “The government”. It is misplaced fear. The gov’t can help us by being accountable and making us all accountable.
Readers responding negatively seem jaded by “The system”.
I am shocked there aren’t laws already like this. Just to be honest.
My friend has a man who has been stalking her. This has been going on for years. Apparently, he is a person living right by her. And to make this even more insane, he used to live only 3 doors down at her old address. He knows how to not get caught. But he did. And did. And did. And did. She doesn’t know him and he has been doing so many bad things it’s not funny. This new law will help her. She has done everything right and even documented it all. Her family said she was being silly but after a while it added up then the man got caught but didn’t get in any trouble, somehow. A judge needs to see how this man is acting and put him straight. She isn’t looking for money or anything like that just peace of mind knowing the authorities are aware of this man and she is protected better.
Call the police. Don’t wait for this law if the man is doing anything threatening.
Aight, listen up, fam! We gotta think, fr fr. Like, rn, there’s a major L loophole and any random dude can just, like, harass these young gyatts. How’d we miss that, bruh? My dad’s a retired LEO, and I need him to get how sigma this is. Since day one, I knew this was important when I read this, no cap.
This is the problem today. Is that the English you use in school? Do your teachers let you write assignments like that? I’ve read they let the kids use “creative language” in school now.
I have no idea what you mean. Can you rewrite this in English, please?
We use words to share ideas and feelings. How can we do that if we don’t speak the same language?
Are you even serious, teach? I’m a straight A student at 72. See? I can write just like you.
But I don’t have to!
These boomers are just dusty, fam.
They ain’t got no rizz. We talk like this cuz we want to, duh! We ain’t tryna flex or impress anyone, frfr. 😐
I ain’t tolerating no cap or sus behavior. Gyatt alert! I’m a girlie but I can throw hands like the boys.
I can’t believe these laws ain’t already a thing. How is that even possible? 😭 I need answers, ong! I watched the vid and the senator said it’s cuz the old politicians had no gyatt.
Now they wanna take away womans rights? No cap! Next, they’ll ban us from being elected? Skibidi no! That’s wild.
Hi, friends. It’s been a while. Time flies and I got busy.
Anyway…
Dear, I agree with you. I had to call my cousin on the phone and have her put her grand-kids on the phone.
But I think all women should know self defense techniques. Don’t use what you learn to be aggressive but it’s good knowing how to defend yourself.
And I also agree that this new bill is worthwhile.
My younger cousin’s grand-kids were saying ‘Skibidi’ over and over and so I asked them what in the world they were talking about last month so I knew they’d know what this commenter had meant. And they did. They explained what the young lady was saying above in Standard American English.
When I last saw my younger relatives, they told me that there is a cartoon on the internet with the same name. So they showed me the cartoon.
I have never seen anything so absurd and uninteresting. A toilet bowl head guy. I mean, no plot line, no dialogue. Just lasers shooting and toilets everywhere.
I think this generation of the kids is about some inside joke that older people don’t get.
No way do they actually watch the cartoon and enjoy the experience. More like just going along with the crowd. But kids do that with a lot of things. As we all know, that’s actually a bad trend and can lead to a kid playing hooky or smoking pot or drinking while underage. Or worse, hanging out in the wrong scene and finding a bunch of losers who deal drugs and take hard drugs and steal and rob. Then the poor kid has a needle sticking out of their arm and probably is going to end up in jail or having an extremely short and painful life. I feel sorry for such kids.
My solution? Same as I’ve written on here for years, Let the kids hang out at home with their friends. Don’t be a busybody. Let them have some freedom. It’s going to be a lot better than hanging out in the street with random people. I have older sons now but they were young once so I know. My advice: Make them Toll House cookies and bring down soda.
I feel like you’re the mom from That 70s Show! Kitty Foreman!! But the real deal. I bet your kids grew up a while ago. I can tell. People don’t think like you anymore.
No joke I remember this lady posting like three years ago and saying her kids never smoked weed down there or drank any alcohol. Yup. Just like Kitty Foreman. lol Llama lady I love you! Not making fun. Just wishing my Moms had been like you! Nosy body Patty we called her. She’d make random checks and came down once and we were smoking a cigarette. OMG You’d have thought it was crack and PCP. Anyway…I think too little freedom can be as bad as too much. Some kids go wrong in college bc of that.
Oh totally at uni kids go wild
And yes it is the kids who were overprotected
Sheltering your kids is bad
My parents were more in the middle
I’e seen it too many times. You are 100% right. It’s been the kids who were sheltered. Some snuck around a bit in high school, but most did not. And, college came, they went away, and, that was the end of the story.
They had freedom for the first time in their lives. You can’t go right if you start exploring life without Mommy’s hand at 18. These societal norms create Mama’s Boys.
I went to school in the ’70s. We walked home. And I lived a good half-mile. Kindergartners, first and second grade and third, I think also had to be accompanied by an older kid at least to their corner.
Now kids get picked up. I see it by me. Pathetic seeing a kid who is 14 in middle school getting Daddy to pick them up. Really, we have free bus service. You are making kids who cannot function in life. I did read about young people bringing a parent to their post-college interviews. I mean, are you kidding me? Does Mommy fill in for you when you have a tummy achy?
They hold the comments for months here.
That’s why I don’t bother commenting anymore.
word
Skibidi Toilet, fam! I think I’ve just discovered my true inner voice. It’s generation alpha-speak.
Forget about trying to be articulate. Suave.
I can just say Skibidi all day long.
Skibidi Skibidi Skibid Skibidi
Am I cool yet, young ‘uns?
How many repetitions does it take before I am cool?
Skibidi Skibidi Skibid Skibidi
I feel cooler already. Let me get a blanket.
Skibidi Skibidi Skibid Skibidi
Feeling downright COLD now.
OK. I get your drift, sister. I dig your point of view.
Back in my day, being cool was a state of mind. Dolly, I didn’t go in for the greaser look. No need.
Being square is also a state of mind. Not mine, tho.
I’ll be supermurgitroid til the day I die.
We do agree about this law. Laws must be updated to continue to be socially relevant.
I mean, how can you say that in Skibidi-speak? Talking like that and you can’t express much.
Like the hippies with FAR OUT MAN
I wanted to hit my friend. He turned hippie in 71. All he could say is FAR OUT MAN and TOO MUCH
TOO MUCH FAR FAR OUT MANNNNNNNNNNNNN
you were never cool and you are not col now and you will never be cool either
I mean, clearly that’s your self-chosen moniker, unless you were thrown down by some gang and they named you. But I can see why you’re lashing out. I think finding a new username and nickname IRL might help you get over this passive aggressive thing.
S*** they got you, too? I don’t know what it is. Maybe the idiot ray. I hear that they come from the TV and make you stupid. Today its in the phones but when we were kids it was the TV sets. Radiation.
hahaha I love you, Llama Lady…but kids today have Gluten Intolerance, practice Veganism, and probably are allergic to peanuts and any nut.
I mean, that’s life. You have to bake from scratch now. It’s way better than any cookie dough brand you can buy in the store! But I’d be okay wit the Toll-house cookies! I’m 61! My wife also loves them! Wewould come over and eat a few, and chat. Do you live near **** ******? *****_******@***.com
snowflakes ❄️
these kids today
Oh I stumbled upon that brain rot on You Tube. I was happy because I had heard the phrase and was like WT* but I didn’t know what the kids were saying. Now that I know I think I feel disappointed bc I thought it would be something way cooler than a screaming toilet bowl head character(?) whatever with an insane face swirling down the drain. Brainrot. Yes.
As for this law bc I don’t want to hijack the thread–
I am all for it. I don’t think laws like this can be bad. I can’t imagine there’s such a big hole right here. They’re trying to patch it but without our support I don’t know if they can. So I for one am calling my elected official and seeing what they have to say on this. I want this pass. There was a lady down the street been harassing my family for years and she needs someone to set her straight. I know we have to go to court. That is fine.
Yo, Kitty Foreman! I think it is a compliment to cal you that. She was the BOOS MOM of TV. I loved That 70s Show. hated “Hyde” but the guy who plays his is in jail now. Like he WAS Hyde IRL and he didn’t have to do much acting. Weird.
Pass the law. I am a Republican and I KNOW this law can’t hurt a fly. Start making fake claims to a judge, and Riker’s will be your next stop.
Let’s get this out of wasting the time of the cops.
I plan to use it on my neighbor who lets his dog s*** on my lawn. I have videos of the dog doing this. I confronted him and he just stared at me. So I collect the dog s*** and place it neatly in a double zip-lock baggie and bring ti to him and ring his bell and he goes NUTS saying he doesn’t even own a dog.
The was just the start. It’s gone on for years. I didn’t smear the crap on his property, just returning his property he left on MY property. 😉 But it has spiraled and the police have been called. They say unless we catch him we can’t say anything is him. And the dog thing they don’t care really. Unless he was dumping a pile of dog s***.
“”Unless he was dumping a pile of dog s***.””
Which you, my man, actually did. 😐
Retaliatory crime is still crime, my friend. Don’t be stupid. That’s not the way to go and you go from victim to perp.
hey doc chill they just tryna do what all kids do at all times which is be different from the old ppl like today its the boomers and gen x ers
Why do you talk like that? I am 14 and I do not speak or write like that. You seem immature and a follower.
If I were a local elected official, I’d be pushing this also. For the men, women, and really every single person living here like teens and kids. I for one do not walk stalkers of any type going on and on with their activities. I had a guy who was obsessed in intermediate school. It stopped after he got obsessed with another girl. It wasn’t even anything horrible, but I don’t want to see a classmate in front of my house randomly with his friends over and over. Or see him walking his dog waiting for me to walk my dog. Never talking. Just following. Oh, he’s at Village Maria’s. How interesting. Oh, he’s at the mall, too now? when did HE arrive? It got weird. I know that’s nothing compared to what some women (and I guess men) go through. But it wasn’t fun.
WHAT IN THE HELL WAS THAT? SYPHILITIC SUE? I LITERALLY SPIT UP MY SODA ALL OVER MY SANDWICH. AND YOUR PIC. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
YOU ARE THE GOAT
A classmate who is a neighbor? I guess he can’t walk his dog if you are walking yours.
That’s just a guy being interested in you. 😐 That is not stalking. Please get a grip. Now I see why young men today can’t deal. The guy wanted your number. He was probly just shy. This is why the birth rate dropped.
Or..you’re just seeing patterns where there are none and you only THINK he is stalking you, but he is just in proximity to your life and for some reason you’re singling him out.
Yeah,, let’s do something about this.
Common Sense law. This is what we need. Not politicized laws so far left or right we have no progress.
If you are a Dem or GOP and you don’t support this, shame on you!
It makes sense like a border where you get here legally like my family did.
What if your family is being hunted by the local jefe who is also a gang member who is also the police? Some families come here because life where they are sucks
Bro, the police and judges here cant help you with squabbles back home! Hopefully, you have your citizenship by now, and if they have goons that far from your homeland, just play it safe and learn personal safety for yourself, your family, and your home. This law could help you if, let’s say, the “jefe” sends goons and they happen to live by you and they are harassing and stalking your family on his behalf. But I don’t think the U.S. Army is going after the cartels. Probly would have been better than this M.E. insanity!
I have seen it all. Harassment is a part of life in the U.S.
I voted for Trump in 2016 because he wanted to stop the swamp from stalking. It’s all the same.
While I don’t support this politician because I am strictly Republican, I think this is a solid idea.
As long as this law isn’t abused, and judges don’t let common expressions of free speech constitute stalking, I think we’re okay.
nah they gonna make it so you cannot say anything at all
paranoid much
pass the law
I know, right? WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?
This brings accountability to everyone in the community.
“If your neighbor knocks on your door a hundred times (it’s not illegal to knock on a door)… if they call your phone every day…. it’s not illegal to call someone”
But don’t the laws we have on the books already take care of this? Isn’t this just another useless redundant law?
I think you meant San Marzano Grower, right? Is that for real or just your handle? How could you grow San Marzano tomatoes and get that so wrong? You’re probably a WASPy fellow from Connecticut or something trying to be down and blend in with the predominantly Italian-American Staten Island population. I’m not even Italian and wouldn’t pretend to be. Me/ I’m Irish. But I know all about the tomatoes. I live on SI and my neighbors give me tons every season.
How about gagoots? They give me gagoots are like five feet long. Makes good soup.
By the way this law is a good idea. Anyone who opposes it will be someone I really consider carefully afterwards. After all, they’d be supporting modern-day harassment. Why would anyone want laws from the 50s in the 2020s?
Society is different now. When we had a house phone or two later and just payphones we had more privacy. We have to adapt to the online world and the information age. Man if you were there you’d remember how it felt being somewhere and leaving the rest of the world behind. Just not possible today.
HAHAHA No My friend you got it all wrong.
I am right.
Feast of San Martino is 11th November. This is a saint day for Saint Martin’s. He was a saint and a Bishop and the patron saint of winemakers.
I grow grapes and make wine for the feast. 🙂
Anyone who opposes it will be someone I really consider carefully afterwards.
TRUE
YOU HAVE A VERY GOOD POINT SIR
watch the video
more info than just reading the article imo
Only a damn stalker would be opposing this. Cmon now. Who else would not be all for a law like this?
Agreed
No. That’s not fair. Anyone who opposes this. Let’s hear them out first. Don’t pre judge their ideas. Anyone have issue? Personally I think this should pass. I am appalled that thee is this blind spot in the law. We support the PBA and donate and we want this to be a society where we can rest easy at night. It can’t all be on the cops shoulders. Especially concerning stalking. These degens know how to evade LEOs. They have a sinister 6th sense. A real feel for being a perp. They get off on the power it makes them feel. Watch out! That’s the same type who r-pes a woman. Or k-lls.
And a simple 6th grade mentality! Any guy who goes and stalks a woman is sick and should be in rehabilitation and have an ankle bracelet. This law does not go far enough. Conservative Republican voting native Islander here. My two cents.
Someone who is up to no good, black or white or hispanic.
I say let’s pass this law and let the judge decide. bringing false cases are crimes so let the judges on our island have a field day if anyone tries to get cute and make up fake stuff. We have enough nutjobs so don’t plan using this for revenge attacks.
“black or white or hispanic.” You show your age, man. Let me guess: 62?
hahaha I’m 64! 😀 We grew up in that era…white black and hispanic
Now there are so many more immigrant groups legit living her and having like a little Italy or Chinatown deal.
Any food suggestions? We like trying new cultural experiences.
Well, friend, I just want to sure it’s the judge who decides. I don’t want this to be like my neighbor brings a motion against me because I tellh im his dog s*** on my lawn. As long as it isn’t the guy deciding and it is before a lawful Judge I am okay.
I feel that this new legislation will protect every Staten Islander and NYS resident. The commenters seem to be focusing strictly on women and stalking, and while I know that is statistically the highest group, it also happens to men and t-women and t-men.
A pissed-off neighbor, a jealous ex, a boss who is a creep, a business partner who is pressuring you, a family member who doesn’t like your values (L or R, depending on the family), and so much more.
They say it’s usually someone you know, But it doesn’t have to be someone you know other than knowing they live or work near you.
Nowadays, you express something online and BLAM you are getting stalked by the guy (or girl, tho really it’s mostly guys by FAR!) who hates what you wrote about politics or gardening or whatever. There are people out there who need help.
what is a t-man? Or a t-woman?
Oh, def not a He-Man! hahahah They mean Trans. Like trans-sexual. Man you must be living under a literal ROCK.
WOMEN
FIGHT BACK AGAINST THIS ENCROACHMENT ON OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES
THE EVANGELICALS WANT TO STEAL OUR VOICE AND OUR VOTE
I SAY EXERCISE YOUR POWER AND HAVE A VOICE
CALL YOUR REPS AND SPEAK UP ALREADY
ANY MAN WHO WANTS US SILENCED IS AFRAID
OF WHAT
THE STUPID STEREOTYPES OF WOMEN
NOT REALITY
PASS THE LAW ALREADY
I AM DISGUSTED THAT THIS WASN’T DONE YEARS AGO
Evangelicals? How are they even remotely involved in women being oppressed?
Well, I don’t think there’s much of a question.
I commend Senator Scarcella-Spanton for standing up for people’s rights. This will protect my sister from her ***hole neighbors who are liberals and hate her being MAGA. Oh, it’s so liberal to be a harasser. Not. This law will also protect my daughter for being liberal and experiencing harassment from some misguided people who think that’s what being conservative means. Me? I am a person who doesn’t like politics. I am in the middle on most issues. I see my sister and daughter and each seems stuck in a rut of thinking. Really, not thinking foe themselves. Both are totally predictable on all issues. I feel like education has failed them, but my sister is a teacher and my daughter a medical professional. They are not dumb. Just when it comes to politics. Group-think? I like when people can think for themselves. I don’t bother them. They are entitled to think freely. That is ironic.
People who might harass and stalk your family were going to do it for some reason or another. Politics is just the BS excuse they use. These laws will be great because the judges out here don’t play. We’re not in Brooklyn. If you think you’re going to waste their time, think again.
Well I see it as so many people are just with politics so far they are puking politics any time they do or say anything.
My sister had a stalker. We started being aware. At first we thought she was just being paranoid.
But no. The individual was a deranged man and he was stalking her for six months before we believed her.
To our family’s credit, she was always joking, I mean always it was her personality so it was hard to believe.
Finally one day I was out with her bike riding and we saw the man. And then later at the park we saw him again.
Someone was doing weird things at our house and my mom said it was a poltergeist. I thought my sister was pranking us til I saw the guy with my own eyes. We think it was him.
I know that isn’t like evidence evidence but you have to still be careful so we told our parents and now they believe us and they put up cameras at the house because really it seems insane not to.
My Dad said he doesn’t want to wait for this to escalate. So we are being proactive and my brothers know, too. Whenever we see they guy near thr house or someplace he shouldn’t be except by luck we make a note in a book my Dad has that he calls the log book. 🕵️♀️
I am a Staten Island resident, probably like most of you. I hope that this doesn’t become a Dems versus GOPs sort of thing. I know a lot of bills end up like that. So the Dems started this bill…will the GOPs finish it? I see this bill as sensible. Am I vote Conservative. So I see it like this: No person should be able to serially harass any other person. It’s that simple. Whether about politics or anything or nothing. We can’t tolerate harassment and stalking. The judges will set the bar for what is heard as a case. If there’s no merit, there’s no merit, like any other case with any other law.
People just wanted you to be aware there are guys out there with crowbars breaking into homes and cars. Just giving you a heads-up bc that is some serious isht. Really have to be careful these days even in a safe place like Staten Island. Criminals are brazen and don’t care about jail time. They think it’s a badge of honor. DIShonor, maybe…confused…..
I hope they come round this way, partner.
**** this. I am waiting for the Republicans we voted for to stand stronger with Scarcella. I voted for law and order and it is ironic that we have the Deomcrats doing the job. I don’t care. Never voting for them but what they are doing here is good. I wish our side had been the ones.
Look, I’m not saying the your claims are completely baseless—far from it. I just don’t know so I cant’ venture to say.
But honestly, as a long-time homeowner here, my ******** groups are absolutely blowing up with speculation, and my wife is already asking me what’s going on before the kids even get home from school. We’ve invested a lot in this community, so we really need some concrete data.
Listen, Junior News Editor beta, please tell your team they need to pull an all-nighter on this one. We need the full documentation and a technical breakdown, pronto. Get them cracking on it before the next town hall meeting! We come here for answers now, so you will be hearing form us again and again.
Very slow to load today. I haven’t tried other sites. I hope the Internet isn’t slow again. Anyway. Is this over and did they pass the law? Your news keeps this article up and should instead do an updated article or add to this one or update at the end. I’m sorry but I’m not being kept informed. I appreciate the work on this news item but please let’s get with the current news.
My neighbor is a judge and they were harassed at home a few years back. I didn’t know what was going on. I have police in the family and we all had to always keep our phone numbers and where we lived secret bc some perp might come out of prison and seek revenge on the guys who collared him. They are retired now. Thankfully they made it.
The threat is not over. Not tryna worry you. Some are gang affiliates without a doubt. And some are out and now older, too. Stay safe and remain vigilant.
[…] our previous coverage of the CREEP Act featuring an interview with Senator […]
Creeps are certainly hiding behind the laws that are presently on the books. The laws as written protect them, and allow them to keep stalking and harassing and causing fear to others without having any fear of consequences for themselves. They can terrorize local neighbors and strangers, knowing it has to be something really out of bounds (i.e. violence) before they face anything for it.
Stalking online is real. Kids commit suicide. You can call 988. They help kids who are feeling down.