Councilman Mark Weprin, center, joins other Queens legislators and community activists outside Queens Borough Hall last week to voice their support for the Community Safety Act that was vetoed by Mayor Bloomberg this week. Anna Gustafson/The Forum Newsgroup
Mayor Bloomberg vetoed on Tuesday two City Council bills that create an NYPD inspector general and allow individuals to sue for changes to the police department over racial profiling by cops, setting up a potential showdown with legislators who have vowed to overturn both his vetoes.
While a number of Queens – and city – legislators, have slammed the mayor’s move, others agreed with Bloomberg’s veto message that the bills, known together as the Community Safety Act, are “dangerous and irresponsible.” The proposed legislation, proponents of which say are meant to curb a proliferation of racial profiling by police but which opponents say will deter officers from responding to situations for fear of being sued, passed the Council with enough of a margin that legislators could override the mayor’s vetoes.
The bill that would allow people to sue over racial profiling passed 34 to 17, and the bill to create an independent monitor that would oversee the NYPD was approved 40 to 11. In order to override the mayor’s veto, at least 34 legislators would need to vote for the overturn.
Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens), whose district was blanketed with flyers from the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association slamming the legislator for voting for the bills, said at a press conference outside Queens Borough Hall last week that while he has “nothing but the utmost respect for police in New York City,” he has been concerned over the numbers of innocent minority residents who have been stopped and frisked by police.
“The people who have complained to me about this are black, Latino or South Asian,” Weprin said. “I’ve never been stopped and frisked… Every black and Latino New Yorker has a story about how they’ve been stopped and frisked. There is something outrageous about this.”
According to statistics from the New York Civil Liberties Union, black and Latino residents made up close to 90 percent of people stopped from 2002 to 2011 – of those stops, 88 percent – more than 3.8 million – were of innocent individuals.
“This has come about because of the mayor’s obsession with data,” Weprin said at the same press conference. “Cops are stopping people they don’t want to stop. You can still stop people – just not for no reason. You have to have cause.”
Weprin was joined outside Borough Hall last week by Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn), one of the bills’ main sponsors; Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans); Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside); Councilman Donavan Richards (D-Laurelton); Queens Borough President Helen Marshall; and representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Make the Road New York, the NYCLU, Desis Rising Up and Moving, the city Anti-Violence Project, and Communities United for Police Reform.
“We need to have a civil discussion about this – not the negative vitriol and hype that’s been going on,” Comrie said. “…These bills are tempered measures that have been put together.”
But other legislators, including Councilmen Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) and Peter Vallone (D-Astoria), said they believe the legislation will strangle the NYPD and deter officers from leaving their vehicles for fear of being sued.
“Politics should never trump public safety,” Ulrich said in a prepared statement. “New York City is a better place today because of the great work of the NYPD. These bills are downright dangerous, not to mention a waste of the taxpayers’ money.”
Ulrich and a number of Queens Republican City Council candidates condemned the Community Safety Act at another press conference outside Queens Borough Hall earlier this month.
A number of borough civic leaders have also condemned the legislation, including 112th Precinct Community Council President Heidi Harrison Chain and Juniper Park Civic Association President Bob Holden.
“I believe that this legislation will adversely affect the ability of the NYPD to protect the communities within the city,” Chain said in a previous interview with The Forum. “Police officers must be encouraged to give and use accurate descriptions of perpetrators to be able to effectively apprehend criminals. Anything that will make their effort more difficult will have a negative impact on the quality of life in every community in the city.”
Representatives from Desis Rising Up and Moving, as well as the Anti-Violence Project and others, noted that city schools have complained about the numbers of students en route to school who are being stopped and frisked by cops – frequently making them late to class. Additionally, nonprofit officials said that the LGBTQ community is often targeted by police for stops.
“This stop-and-frisk policy disproportionately affects the LGBTQ community – particularly the transgendered community,” Van Bramer said.
The majority of the public supports creating an inspector general role, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. According to the poll, voters support creating the oversight position by a substantial 66-25 percent margin.
The same poll reported that city voters disapprove of the stop and frisk tactic by 51 to 43 percent.
Still, city voters continue to throw their support behind the NYPD, with voters approving 60-32 percent of the job police are doing and back Police Commissioner Ray Kelly 65-25 percent, according to the Quinnipiac poll.
By Anna Gustafson
