The Right To Know Act is a legislative package that aims to protect the civil and human rights of New Yorkers while promoting communication, transparency and accountability in everyday interactions between the NYPD and the public. New Yorkers want to live in a safe city where the police treat all residents with dignity and respect, and where police are not considered to be above the law.
City Council legislation meant to force NYPD officers to identify themselves in certain nonemergency encounters — and distribute business cards when there is no arrest or summons — is continuing to lose support from foes of police misconduct.
The groups say the bill ultimately creates loopholes that cops can exploit.
On Tuesday, the New York City Council will vote on two police accountability bills. One represents real reform that will protect New Yorkers' privacy rights when police ask to search them without probable cause. The other is faux reform that is the result of a backroom deal between powerful politicians and the New York Police Department.
Backers of a pair of hotly contested police reform bills are demanding their sponsors force a vote on the legislation in the next three weeks.
Advocates pushed Councilmen Ritchie Torres and Antonio Reynoso, the chief sponsors of the Right to Know Act, to use a tactic called a motion to discharge to force it to the floor by Nov. 16.
“We cannot wait any longer,” said Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who was killed by a police chokehold on Staten Island. “We need them to discharge these bills, and then we need them passed. And we can’t take no for an answer.”
La llamada ley del “Derecho a saber”, una iniciativa que exige que los policías se identifiquen ante los sospechosos con sus nombres propios y de paso se les informe sobre las razones por las cuales están siendo detenidos y su derecho a rechazar el registro si no hay causa probable, vuelve a estar sobre la mesa, faltando apenas tres meses para que termine la sesión actual del Concejo Municipal.
The people in my community of Flushing, Queens, like New Yorkers in various other neighborhoods across the city, are tired of getting targeted and harassed by the NYPD. Police frequently approach people without identifying themselves or providing any justification. Despite the decline in the number of reported stops by the NYPD, there are many policing interactions initiated by officers that are going unrecorded. In these incidents, officers just do whatever they want without any accountability or transparency.
We're now several months into the Trump administration, and activists have scored some important victories in those months. Yet there is always more to be done, and for many people, the question of where to focus and how to help remains. In this series, we talk with organizers, agitators, and educators, not only about how to resist, but how to build a better world. Today's interview is the 82nd in the series. Click here for the most recent interview before this one.
Sponsors of two bills — one forcing NYPD cops in nonemergencies to identify themselves by name and rank, and the other requiring them to tell those they want to search of their constitutional right to deny a voluntary request — vowed Wednesday to pass both by the new year.
Nearly 1,000 supporters of the legislation, which have languished since 2014 but have veto-proof support in the City Council, picketed outside City Hall Wednesday to demand the city enact the bills.
“We deserve the right to know! Abusive cops have got to go!” the demonstrators chanted.
"On July 4, 2016, NYPD officer Wayne Isaacs shot and killed my brother, Delrawn Small, and left him to die in the street without assistance. Wayne Isaacs was still sitting in the car when he shot Delrawn.
"My family is demanding that Isaacs be held accountable [for killing our brother]. But we also know that holding one officer accountable will not end police violence. We need strong policy changes to help end abusive policing in New York City. Our family is demanding the Right to Know Act be passed and [for] Wayne Isaacs to be held accountable as civilians are always held accountable." - Victoria Davis, sister of Delrawn Small
Council members will force a vote on hotly debated police reform bills if Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito refuses to allow a vote this year, they said Tuesday.