Public safety is a matter of urgent and rising concern among New Yorkers. The impact of the pandemic, rising inequality, a growing mental health crisis, and skyrocketing costs of living have made life for working families difficult here in New York, the largest city in the U.S. It is all the more important, in this context, that our elected officials work to improve the long-strained relationship between the NYPD and the communities it serves. Passing the How Many Stops Act would be an important step forward.
A decade ago, the healthcare workers of 1199SEIU were proud to take a leading role, together with civil rights leaders, advocates, and NYC residents, in demanding the end to the NYPD’s racist practice of “stop-and-frisk,” which targeted New Yorkers of color at alarming rates. In August 2013, a federal court ruled the police department’s use of the tactic unconstitutional, and there were high hopes that we were ending the era of unequal policing and beginning to focus on true public safety and justice for all New Yorkers.
Although for a time the number of NYPD’s reported stops declined, they are today again on the rise. Yet we lack crucial data as to precisely how many New Yorkers are being stopped and questioned by police, and the demographic and geographic data needed for adequate public oversight.
According to the federal monitor for the NYPD, at least 24% of the reported stops made by Neighborhood Safety Teams—the rebrand of the notorious Anti-Crime Unit—have been unconstitutional, and 97% have been of Black/Latinx New Yorkers. These percentages are even more dramatic in vulnerable, low-income communities. For example, in the Bronx’s 41st Precinct, an astounding 59% of the stops, 68% of frisks, and 74% of searches reviewed by the monitor were deemed to be unlawful.
Under current law, the NYPD is not required to disclose information about the vast majority of pedestrian stops and investigative encounters its officers are making—what the NYPD calls Level 1 or 2 stops. These kinds of encounters are the most common interactions between officers and civilians, but because they don’t rise to the level of a stop-and-frisk (considered Level 3, when officers must have “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity), the NYPD is not required to share data with the City Council or the public. We simply have no idea how many Level 1 and 2 stops are happening, whether they are constitutional, and how they affect various demographics and communities.
In the context of well-documented police abuses, the actual experience of being approached and questioned by an officer can be frightening. So-called “low-level” encounters can escalate on a dime, with fatal consequences, as we know from the deaths of Eric Garner in 2014 and Antonio Williams in 2019.
As an essential step toward accountability, improved police-community relations, and greater safety for all, the City Council must pass both bills of the How Many Stops Act without further delay.
The How Many Stops Act will require the NYPD to report on low-level street stops and encounters, including where they happen; demographic information about those stopped; the reason for the encounters; and whether they led to use of force, a ticket, or an arrest. It also requires the NYPD to fully report on its use of consent searches—stops in which an officer asks permission to conduct a search of a person or their belongings despite not having probable cause.
This common sense, good government legislation is supported by a majority of our City Council and was heard by the Public Safety Committee earlier this year. There is no reason for the speaker and the City Council to wait on passing this critical legislation, and there is no reason for Mayor Adams—who has made promises to hold abusive officers accountable—not to support legislation that could shed light on those abuses. It’s time to repair the division between law enforcement and our communities, to ensure safety, equity, and dignity for all.
George Gresham is president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the largest union of healthcare workers in the nation.