How Many Stops Act

The How Many Stops Act will bring critical and urgent transparency to the NYPD’s daily activities in New York City communities. It consists of two common sense, good government bills that will require a comprehensive accounting of all NYPD street stops, investigative encounters, and consent searches - including for the purposes of DNA collection - and ensure that the hard won Right to Know Act is protected. The data collected via these two bills is crucial for completing the picture of what policing really looks like in our City. 

Click here to learn more about CPR's campaign to pass the How Many Stops Act.

For immediate release: November 4, 2024

Communities United for Police Reform Responds to NYPD Noncompliance at Close of first HMSA Reporting Period

In response to the data at the end of the first How Many Stops Act (HMSA) reporting period showing that the NYPD is not following the intent of the law, Communities United for Police Reform spokesperson Hassen Bashier, Civil Rights Campaign Coordinator at VOCAL-NY released a statement.
For immediate release: September 6, 2024

Communities United for Police Reform Responds to Report on NYPD’s Stop and Frisk Practices

The Independent Federal Monitor of the New York City Police Department released a report finding that the NYPD has failed to comply with court-ordered mandates to end its unconstitutional stop-and-frisk practices.

Mayor Adams Loses Showdown Over 2 Criminal Justice Bills

The New York City Council overrode the mayor’s veto of two bills that would expand documentation of police stops and end solitary confinement.
01/30/2024
New York Times
Police officers will be required to record the race, age and gender of most people they stop and solitary confinement will be banned in New York City jails after the City Council overrode Mayor Eric Adams’s veto of two criminal justice bills on Tuesday.

NY City Council votes to override Mayor Eric Adams' veto of the How Many Stops Act

01/30/2024
News 12
New York City police officers will be required to record the apparent race, gender and ages of most people they stop for questioning under a law passed by the City Council, which overrode a veto by Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday. The issue was thrust into the national spotlight in recent days when NYPD officers pulled over a Black council member without giving him a reason.

New York City’s pro-cop mayor loses high-profile fight over policing legislation

Eric Adams adamantly opposed bills ending solitary confinement and requiring more reporting from police officers. The City Council passed them anyway.
01/30/2024
Politico
New York City Mayor Eric Adams — a former police officer focused on combating crime — found himself in a feud Tuesday with the more progressive City Council over two criminal justice reform bills. And in this rare instance, Adams lost. Led by a relatively moderate Democrat aligned with the body’s progressive members, the Council delivered a striking rebuke to Adams by overriding two of his vetoes by an overwhelming margin. The votes capped weeks of lobbying and media appearances from officials on both sides of the debate — a flurry of activity exacerbated over the weekend when police pulled over a Council member who’d spent seven years in jail after being wrongly convicted as part of the “Central Park Five.”

Adams Fought the Lawmakers and the Lawmakers Won

01/31/2024
Hell Gate
On Tuesday morning, City Hall was abuzz, as the biggest political conflict of the new year came to a head. City Council had scheduled a vote to override two bills vetoed by Mayor Eric Adams. One bill required City jails to end the practice of holding people in protracted isolation. (The council had already banned solitary confinement nearly a decade earlier, but studies suggested that the Department of Correction has simply continued the practice under other names.)

Up Close 2/4/24: How Many Stops Act divides Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Council on policing

02/05/2024
ABC 7 NY
t's the biggest battle to date between the mayor and the City Council - and it has led to a division among many New Yorkers. A total of 42 of the 51 council members voted to override the mayor's veto of the How Many Stops Act, despite powerful warnings from New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Adams says more paperwork for NYPD officers means less time to fight crime. So, what impact will the new law have on efforts to fight crime? We talk to former New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
For immediate release: January 30, 2024

Supporters Celebrate Override of Mayor’s Veto of Crucial Police Transparency Legislation

Today, the New York City Council voted to override Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of Intro 586 of the How Many Stops Act (HMSA) with a supermajority of votes.  The passage of the How Many Stops Act will bring urgent and necessary transparency about formerly unreported categories of stops - referred to as level 1 and 2 by the NYPD - which constitute the vast majority of the NYPD’s formal “investigative encounters” with civilians. “This is a historic win for our movement and New Yorkers, especially against the backdrop of a massive misinformation campaign waged by the mayor and NYPD," said Loyda Colón (they/them), spokesperson for Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) and Executive Director of the Justice Committee. "We applaud the City Council for enacting the How Many Stops Act, in spite of the mayor and NYPD's non-stop lies, and thank council members for following the leadership of New Yorkers who are directly impacted by the NYPD's racist and abusive practices. The How Many Stops law will give us a more complete picture of the NYPD's racial profiling and abusive police actions and is an essential step towards true community safety. Council members who voted to enact the legislation over the mayor's veto should be commended for putting the needs of their constituents first, instead of bowing to the illegitimate power and baseless fear-mongering of the NYPD."

The N.Y.P.D. Pulled Over a City Councilman. Now Both Are Under Fire.

Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five, said the officer who stopped him should have explained why. Some officials said Mr. Salaam had used his position to avoid a ticket.
01/29/2024
New York Times
Yusef Salaam, the newly elected New York City Council member who was wrongfully convicted in 1990 as a member of the Central Park Five, was in Harlem on Friday night, driving downtown to dinner with his wife and four of his children, when the flashing lights of a police car appeared behind him.

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