Policy

City Council bills would require NYPD to document every street stop

The NYPD says documenting the stops would be ‘onerous’ and take too long.

NYPD Director of Legislative Affairs Michael Clarke (second from left) testifies at a City Council hearing on March 27, 2023.

NYPD Director of Legislative Affairs Michael Clarke (second from left) testifies at a City Council hearing on March 27, 2023. William Alatriste/New York City Council Media Unit

The New York City Police Department could soon be required to report on all low-level police street stops and interactions with civilians, thanks to a pair of proposed City Council bills aimed at bolstering the department’s transparency. Advocates say the measure is necessary to show the true toll of police interactions on Black and brown New Yorkers. Currently, the police department is only required to document formal stops (which are known as Level 3 encounters) but not the far more frequent lower-level encounters.

The police department has objected to the bills. During a Council hearing on Monday, a high-ranking NYPD official argued that requiring officers to record the details of every low-level encounter would be “onerous” and take up so much time that officers might be delayed from solving crimes or looking for missing children.

“How about a case with a missing five-year-old child, which may be the most time sensitive investigation one can imagine? Dozens or hundreds of officers are dispatched and dozens or hundreds of everyday New Yorkers are asked if they’ve seen the missing child,” said Michael Clarke, the NYPD’s director of legislative affairs. “To ensure the accuracy of reports, officers would need to stop and take down each witness’ demographic information. This will invariably slow down the investigation and as such hinder an officer from obtaining valuable information.”

During the hearing, Clarke said that the NYPD “does not fear transparency” but simply considers lower-level encounters to be so routine that it would be prohibitively difficult to log all of them.

He described Level 1 encounters as the “most basic interactions” between police officers and members of the public: speaking to witnesses while responding to a 911 call, assisting sick passengers on the subway, asking New Yorkers if they’ve seen a missing child. Level 2 interactions occur when an officer stops someone suspected of criminal activity. In both cases, Clarke said, the interaction is strictly voluntary and the individual is free to walk away if they want – unlike in a Level 3 encounter.

Although the NYPD sought to portray Level 1 and Level 2 encounters as being little more than voluntary chats between officers and citizens, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said that New Yorkers often do not feel free to leave encounters with armed police officers – and sometimes, are not even allowed to leave by the police.

“Despite being lower-level stops, the feeling of being stopped, questioned, and possibly searched by police is indistinguishable from the experience of Level 3 stops,” Williams said.

The two Council bills – Intros 538 and 586, which have been dubbed the “How Many Stops Act” – were largely designed to get a better idea of how the NYPD interacts with community members. While the NYPD is currently required to document Level 3 stops – when police have the authority to detain someone and  prevent them from leaving – the department does not release any information related to lower-level interactions between police officers and the public. The NYPD’s own data has revealed well-documented racial disparities when it comes to formal “stop-and-frisk” stops (which are considered Level 3), but there currently isn’t a clear, data-backed picture about which populations are most impacted by lower-level stops.

Intro 586 would require the NYPD to report information about all interactions between the police and the public – whether Level 3, 2 or 1. This would include the ethnicity, age, and gender of the person who police approached as well as the reason, location, and whether any force or enforcement action was taken. Intro 538 would require the NYPD to detail its use of searches when a person does or doesn’t consent. According to Williams, the bills would build on the Right to Know Act which was passed in 2017.

“There is a clear racial difference in who is being stopped and who’s not and who has been policing those guys. Often the answer (police give) is because of the violence that is occuring there,” Williams said. “I heard that 10 years ago, I heard it in the ‘90s when I was growing up, I heard it in the ‘80s before that and people heard it for decades which means at some point what we are doing isn’t effective because it’s not changing the way that the violence is occuring … My hope is that at some point we can have a discussion about what public safety actually is, what (the) police’s role is in that.”

In addition to the How Many Stops Act, Council members considered a slate of other measures aimed at increasing the NYPD’s transparency and the degree to which the department can be held accountable to the public – including several measures related to access to body camera footage and  legislation that would require the NYPD to produce an annual report listing anyone who donated more than $1 million to the department in a single year and how that money was used.

Monday’s hearing, held by the public safety committee, comes at a particularly tense time between the City Council and NYPD. Last week, Council members pressed the department last week about its soaring overtime spending. Before that, the Council had to postpone multiple hearings about the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group – which is known for violently breaking up protests – after the department repeatedly refused to send any representatives to testify about the controversial unit.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.