(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) New York City is preparing to implement an unprecedented proposal that has sparked concerns among law enforcement officials.
As reported by the New York Post on Sunday, the City Council is pushing for requirements that would heavily burden the New York Police Department, mandating officers to file numerous reports for every encounter with the public and swiftly submit body-worn camera footage to the state.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry strongly criticized the potential consequences of the legislation in an interview with the Post.
“The City Council needs to stop. Stop burying cops under paperwork and the NYPD under useless reporting requirements. Stop empowering the overlapping oversight regimes to crush cops’ careers just to fuel their anti-police narrative,” Hendry said.
“If that doesn’t happen, NYPD leaders need to stop pushing police officers to engage in the kind of effective, proactive policing that the City Council clearly does not want,” Hendry added.
The proposals emerged as Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, a Democrat, decried what she claimed to be a lack of “public transparency” within the NYPD.
“New York City’s current policies on access to body worn camera footage have unfortunately fallen short of prioritizing public transparency,” Adams claimed earlier this year, according to the Post.
One of the bills, known as Intro 586-A, would mandate police officers to file reports for all “police-civilian investigative encounters,” which includes situations where officers merely seek information from non-suspects, according to the Post. This requirement starkly contrasts with the current mandate, which only obliges officers to document “Level III” or “reasonable suspicion stops.”
NYPD Director of Legislative Affairs Michael Clarke criticized the bills as counterproductive. Clarke argued that these low-level encounters, such as assisting sick individuals or gathering information about incidents in public parks, would not contribute to police accountability.
Clarke expressed concerns about the negative impact on community-police relations, as the proposed legislation disincentivizes officers from engaging with individuals who may require assistance.
The proposal emerges at a time when the New York state government expanded the age eligibility for state police recruitment, from 29 to 34, due to significant recruitment challenges.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, stated that by increasing the maximum age for new recruits, the state can broaden its pool of potential candidates to bolster the important work of the police force and enhance public safety.
