(The Center Square) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is vowing to veto a bill that seeks to end racial profiling by requiring New York Police Department officers to document every encounter with the public.
The proposal, co-sponsored by New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, would require the NYPD to provide quarterly reports detailing certain investigative encounters between the police and civilians, including the race/ethnicity, age and gender of the civilian, factors that led to the interaction, and whether it involved the use of force.
The Democratic-controlled New York City Council expects to take up the bill this week, where it appears to have enough support to be approved.
But Adams said on Sunday the proposal would “endanger public safety” and vowed to veto the measure if it reaches his desk.
“The more you have police officers handling paperwork, there’s not going after perpetrators,” the Democrat said Sunday during an interview with WCBS-TV. “That is not how you keep the city safe.”
The proposal, which backers say is aimed at reducing racial profiling in the city, has also met with pushback from law enforcement officials and state prosecutors.
Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon said the bill will “take cops off the street to fill out paperwork instead of deterring, investigating, and fighting crime.” He blasted the measure as “the latest chapter in the council’s endless efforts to make the career of an NYPD officer utterly undesirable.”
“In a tragic twist of irony, it was the collection and storage of the personal information of presumed innocent New Yorkers that caused the end of “Stop and Frisk,” and now the Council is now eager to restore that type of data collection for these senseless purposes,” he wrote in an op-ed published by local newspapers.
McMahon said crime remains the “single most pressing concern” as the NYPD “continues to face record levels of attrition, leaving the manpower of the NYPD lower than it has been in decades and resulting in slower response times to 911 calls across the five boroughs.”
He urged the council to “focus on keeping New Yorkers safe and holding criminals accountable, not on further tying the hands of law enforcement and making the noble career of an NYPD officer the least desirable job in our city.”
Meanwhile, a coalition of more than 60 business organizations — including the New York City Partnership and Times Square Alliance — wrote to New York City Council President Adrienne Adams urging her not to approve the measure. The groups said the “negative consequences” of the bill “far outweigh any positive intentions.”
“Victims of crimes should not have to wait due to our officers being overburdened by paperwork which is what will surely happen if this bill passes,” they wrote. “We urge you to consider the communities, businesses and victims who will suffer the consequences of this bill and to vote no.”
