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NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s mayor has vetoed legislation aimed at providing greater transparency about police encounters with civilians, setting off a confrontation with the City Council who has a say in the That he has enough votes to remove him from office.
Democratic Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday that he rejected the bill, calling it ” how many stops act”which requires officers to publicly report on all investigative stops, including relatively low-level encounters with civilians.
Police are currently only required to file a report after “reasonable suspicion”, where an officer has the legal authority to search and detain someone.
The Democratic-led City Council approved the measure in the final days of 2023 with enough votes to override the mayor’s veto and ensure the bill becomes law unless several members change their stance.
In a statement Friday, Speaker Adrienne Adams confirmed the council is ready to fire Adams, arguing that greater transparency is needed in policing as citizen complaints against officers reach their highest level in more than a decade. Are on.
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“The false narrative that we can’t have transparency is bad for our city, and belies the fact that accountability is key to improving public safety by increasing trust,” he said in a joint statement with Harlem Democrat and Council Member Yusef Salaam. Is.” “Central Park Five” member acquitted,
Adams has argued that expanded reporting requirements would only entangle officers in paperwork, endangering public safety.
Among other things, the law would require the NYPD to report where the stop occurred, the demographic information of the person stopped, the reason for the encounter, and whether the encounter resulted in any use of force or enforcement action.
“We don’t want to handcuff the police. We want to handcuff the bad guys. That’s the goal,” Adams said Friday at a City Hall news conference attended by community members and law enforcement officials. “It’s about making sure we’re not stopping them from doing their job.”
According to the mayor’s office, the city saw a decline in overall crime last year, including a 12% drop in murders and a 25% decline in shootings.
“Crime has gone down. Jobs are up. The city is moving in the right direction,” Adams said. “Allow us to continue the work we started.”
Local groups supporting the measure urged the council to immediately hold an override vote.
Communities United for Police Reform said the veto showed the mayor’s “callous disregard” for the safety and rights of communities of color, who are disproportionately subject to police stops.
“Under the mayor, unconstitutional stop-and-search is at its highest level since 2015 and reports of police misconduct have increased by 51%, yet he would rather his police department be discriminatory and abusive than protecting New Yorkers. care more about saving practices,” Sala Cyril, an organization spokesperson, said in a statement.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who introduced the bill, dismissed Adams’ sharp criticism as “fear-mongering” and misinformation.
“A full understanding of the law makes it clear that enacting these reforms would be good for public safety, while blocking them would make our city less safe,” he said in a statement Thursday in anticipation of the mayor’s veto.
In recent days, the mayor’s office and police department have launched social media campaigns criticizing the new requirements for police.
“Do we want ‘New York’s Finest’ doing the paperwork or the police work?” Adams wrote in a Thursday post to his 1.5 million followers on X, formerly Twitter, which linked to a video critique Of measurement.
“This change will place further strain on already strained NYPD manpower and community relations,” the police department said. wrote in a video Posted on its x this week.
Adams is also considering vetoing legislation that the council passed in late December ban on solitary confinement In the city jails. Adams argues that banning it would make facilities more dangerous for inmates and staff.
That bill, which the mayor has until Friday to veto, would impose a four-hour limit on isolating inmates in “de-escalation” units who pose an immediate risk of violence to others or themselves .
Only those involved in violent incidents may be placed in long-term restrictive housing, and will be allowed out of their cells for 14 hours each day and required to have access to the same programming available to other inmates. Will happen.
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