“Accountability and transparency are essential to improving public safety, as they are a foundation of sound policing and building the community trust necessary to make our neighborhoods safer. Greater access to data on policing has contributed to New York City becoming safer for decades, and the improvements delivered by this bill can yield that same progress for New Yorkers now. Int. 586 is not about capturing officers’ casual conversations and interactions to assist the public, despite rampant misinformation being spread about the bill. This legislation provides basic data and transparency on investigative stops that intrude in people’s daily lives, and creates a uniform standard of reporting to replace the current inconsistency that has contributed to severe underreporting and data gaps. These investigative stops, which disproportionately target Black and Latino New Yorkers, should no longer occur in the shadows without data to help improve public safety. The reporting required by the bill can be done simply with the smartphones issued to officers by the department, along with its advanced technology. Transparency cannot be feared in a democracy, particularly for policing, because it is fundamental to a democratic society. Our public policy discussions should reflect that value rather than be derailed by a misrepresentation of facts that seeks to incite and weaponize fear.”
On background:
- Int. 586 went through extensive negotiations with the Administration and NYPD. The NYPD offered several changes of which nearly all were incorporated, including an additional reporting requirement.