For the second time in less than a year, the City Council is bracing for Mayor Adams to veto a bill it passed with overwhelming support — and this time the legislation at hand relates to police transparency, a top priority for most members of the chamber.
The bill, known as the How Many Stops Act, would require NYPD officers to log information into a department database about every encounter they have with a civilian that’s investigative in nature.
Arguing the proposed new reporting requirements would jeopardize public safety, Adams has made clear he’s considering vetoing the bill — and he has less than two weeks to decide whether to do so.
With all eyes on whether the mayor will use his veto pen, here’s a breakdown of what the How Many Stops measure would do and why there’s so much controversy around it.
What would the bill do?
Under current laws, cops must log information about the race, ethnicity, age and gender of any person they stop as part of a so-called Level 3 encounter. They must also provide basic details about what led to the Level 3 encounter and if it resulted in any use of force, frisking or other enforcement action.
If the How Many Stops Act becomes law, cops would need to provide the same type of info on Level 1 and Level 2 stops they conduct. Unlike Level 3 stops, where there must be reasonable suspicion of an ongoing crime, Level 1 stops can be conducted without any suspicion of a crime, while Level 2 stops only require a “founded suspicion” which can be based on hearsay, according to the NYPD patrol guide.
How would this affect New Yorkers?
In that it’s only focused on reporting protocols, the How Many Stops Act would not change anything about what civilians or cops can or cannot legally do during investigative encounters.
Officers aren’t allowed to use force during Level 1 and Level 2 encounters, and civilians subjected to them are free to walk away, the patrol guide says. Force can be used during Level 3 stops.
However, the new reporting would provide data on whether minorities continue to be disproportionately stopped by cops.
Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News
New York City Council meeting at City Hall in Manhattan. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)
Why is Adams opposed to the bill?
Joined by Republicans, NYPD leaders and some moderate Democrats, Adams has argued the bill would place unnecessary “paperwork” burdens on officers that would distract them from doing actual policing, a position he recently conveyed to a graduating class of NYPD recruits.
For example, Adams — a retired NYPD captain who made public safety the cornerstone of his successful 2021 campaign — has said it’d take officers upward of three minutes to document a single Level 1 or a Level 2 stop, not “literally 10-20” seconds, as stated by City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the bill’s author.
Though he hasn’t said one way or the other what he’s going to do, Adams has affirmed vetoing the legislation is on his mind.
“We are really looking at all of our options on exactly what we could do, what we should do,” he said Dec. 26 when asked if he’s leaning toward a veto.
How long does Adams have to issue a veto?
He has until Jan. 19. If he doesn’t do anything before then, the measure will automatically become law.
If the mayor vetoes, a mad scramble is likely to ensue in the Council, as Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) has confirmed her chamber will attempt to override any veto he issues.
Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)
The battle over the How Many Stops Act comes after the Council overrode the mayor’s veto of a package of rental voucher reforms last July.
That marked the first successful veto override in over a decade, dealing a big political blow to the mayor.
How much leverage does the Council have to override a veto?
To pull off an override, at least 34 of the chamber’s members need to support it. The How Many Stops Act passed the Council last month with support from 35 of its Democrats, a veto-proof majority.
Still, the looming threat of a How Many Stops Act veto fight comes after a new class of Council members were sworn in this past Tuesday, including Bronx Republican Kristy Marmorato, who replaced Democratic Councilwoman Marjorie Velazquez to represent a Bronx district.
It’s unclear how exactly the new class of members will impact the math of an override vote.
Why is there so much controversy around the bill?
In the mayor’s telling, the new reporting requirements would threaten what he has characterized as his administration’s progress on reducing crime in the city.
The measure has driven a further wedge between Adams, the Council and Williams, who has blasted Adams’ rhetoric at an increasing clip, saying the mayor is “lying” about the what his bill would do. Williams says reporting on a Level 1 or a Level 2 stop should take an officer mere seconds, noting the Council took nearly all of the NYPD’s feedback on the bill into account before finalizing it.
How Many Stops Act supporters — among whom are family members of New Yorkers killed by the NYPD — have raised concern about officers mislabeling Level 3 stops as lower-level encounters to avoid documenting them and say requiring transparency across the board would help prevent biased policing by making cops think twice before initiating certain confrontations. They say that’s critical at a time when illegal police stops of Black and Brown New Yorkers remain a problem in the city, according to the NYPD’s federal monitor — more than 10 years after a judge ruled the department’s infamous stop-and-frisk policy unconstitutional.
As a potential veto draws nearer, the mudslinging between the mayor and Williams has taken a personal turn.
This past Wednesday, Adams said he finds it “astonishing” that the public advocate is pushing the bill given that he “lives in a fort.”
“He lives in a fort. He doesn’t take the subway,” the mayor said, a reference to the home at the Fort Hamilton Army Garrison in Brooklyn that Williams shares with his wife and children.
In response, Williams convened an emergency Zoom press conference in which he told reporters Adams had acted like “an angry, bratty child” by focusing on his home address while he “lives in New Jersey with his girlfriend.”
“What I hope is that … he would sit down and have conversations and try to regain the trust that he’s lost from New Yorkers,” Williams said.
