In the Media

Jin Hee Lee, deputy director of litigation of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. and co-lead counsel in Davis, et al. v. City of New York and New York City Housing Authority, and Joo-Hyun Kang, director of Communities United for Police Reform, talk about some of the objections to the NYPD's plan for the body camera pilot program slated to start this week and the legal challenge that's been filed to change it.

A coalition of police-reform groups stepped forward Thursday to ask a federal judge to stop the NYPD’s body camera pilot project — set to begin next week — claiming the plan has numerous problems that need to be fixed.

In a news conference Thursday outside the gates of City Hall, advocates said the NYPD’s plan to outfit about 1,200 cops with cameras is flawed because it doesn’t require cops to record enough encounters with the public. The advocates also objected, among other things, to officers having the right to view their recordings before making statements or writing reports.

Melissa Mark-Viverito made sure her final stated meeting as city council speaker was a full agenda — and it was filled with goodbyes and controversies.

At issue were two bills dealing with how police and the public interact.

One requires that the NYPD direct officers to search only after obtaining "voluntary, knowing, and intelligent consent."

The second requires police give out business cards, including name, rank, and shield number, while noting 311 can be called to submit comments about the encounter.

Activists continued to hammer away at the NYPD’s body camera program Thursday.

Outside City Hall, groups affiliated with Communities United for Police Reform demanded that the pilot program — slated to begin next week and eventually involve 1,000 officers in 20 precincts — be halted until changes are made.