

Mark Axinn, LPNY Chair

A U.S. News and World Report story talks about the reaction of New York Libertarian Party leaders to news that New York City cops are making fewer arrests and writing fewer citations.

NY LP Chair Mark Axinn and Manhattan LP chair Brian Waddell are quoted in the article.

“’It is certainly a good thing when the government is not arresting citizens for so many minor matters which should be decriminalized,’ says Mark Axinn, chairman of the Libertarian Party of New York.

“Axinn says a minimalist approach to policing allows the New York City Police Department ‘to concentrate its limited resources on truly criminal activities such as attacks on persons and property.’”

The Libertarian Party affirms the right of citizens to protest police brutality and over-militarization of police. The LP strongly condemns both the police actions that led to the death of Eric Garner and the shooting of innocent NYC police officers.

The party platform states:

We believe that respect for individual rights is the essential precondition for a free and prosperous world, that force and fraud must be banished from human relationships, and that only through freedom can peace and prosperity be realized.

Consequently, we defend each person’s right to engage in any activity that is peaceful and honest, and welcome the diversity that freedom brings. The world we seek to build is one where individuals are free to follow their own dreams in their own ways, without interference from government or any authoritarian power.

Read the full story here.