In the Media

The City Council today enacted a series of bills that will give police officers the discretion to steer certain low-level broken windows offenses like drinking in public, littering, and public urination to civil court, rather than criminal court.

"Nobody who has littered or made excessive noise... should bear the brunt of the criminal justice system," said Queens Council Member Rory Lancman, a bill sponsor, on Wednesday.

It is ironic that many New Yorkers are not aware of the Right to Know Act, the legislative package that aims to protect them while promoting communication, transparency and accountability between them and the New York Police Department.

Thanks to the Communities United for Police Reform, the Right to Know Act is becoming better known. Even so, there is much more our citizens need to know if they want to be treated with dignity and respect when interacting with the police.

QUEENS, N.Y. — On a recent evening in a nondescript apartment building in the Jackson Heights section of Queens, a small group of young social justice activists gather for a weekly ritual.

Armed with handheld video cameras and know-your-rights pamphlets, they hash out a strategy and exchange information about police movements in the area. All write on their arms the phone number of a lawyer who will bail them out of jail if things go awry.

Advocates and Council members rallied outside City Hall today to call for the passage of a pair of police reform bills that have languished for two years, despite support from more than half the body’s members.

The bills, known collectively as the Right to Know Act, would require police officers to identify themselves to people they stop and to inform people that they have a right to refuse a search if the officer does not have probable cause. The identification bill has 32 sponsors; the consent to search legislation has 28—enough to pass the 51-member body.