New York City police officers will be expected to document basic information, such as the race, gender, and age of most people they question, after council members overrode Mayor Eric Adams’s veto.
The How Many Stops Act passed through the council at the end of last year and was vetoed by Adams, a Democrat, earlier this month. But on Tuesday, that veto was overwhelmingly overturned in a 42-9 vote.
The act requires the NYPD to log information from low-level interactions, such as basic identifications, the “reason for the investigative encounter,” if a summons was issued or an arrest made, and if force was used.
The vote follows outrage over a black councilman stating he was stopped and pulled over by NYC police without an explanation. Police pulled over Councilman Yusef Salaam, an exonerated member of the “Central Park 5,” Friday night in Harlem, later saying the stop was due to his vehicle’s dark tint breaking legal limits. But Salaam, who secured his Democratic seat on the council in June of last year, said the police officer did not give him the reasoning for the traffic stop while it occurred.
“This experience only amplified the importance of transparency for all police investigative stops, because the lack of transparency allows racial profiling and unconstitutional stops of all types to occur and often go underreported,” Salaam said in a statement.
Salaam’s comments caused the NYPD to release body cam footage from the encounter and defend the officers’ “professional and respectful” conduct. Salaam can be heard identifying himself as a member of the council and asking the officer why he was pulled over in an audio of the encounter published by the New York Times. The officer didn’t answer Salaam’s request for an explanation for the stop before sending him on his way.
Adams said his veto was rooted in concerns of public safety, noting the NYPD could experience slower investigations as a result of recording additional formation. After the bill was passed by the council on Tuesday, Adams again said the measures won’t enhance the safety of New Yorkers.
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“These bills will make New Yorkers less safe on the streets, while police officers are forced to fill out additional paperwork rather than focus on helping New Yorkers and strengthening community bonds. Additionally, it will make staff in our jails and those in our custody less safe by impairing our ability to hold those who commit violent acts accountable,” Adams said.
“I share the City Council’s goal of increasing transparency in government, and our administration has remained at the table to negotiate in good faith throughout this entire process to achieve that mission,” Adams added.