NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — In the face of a potential New York City Council override of his veto of two bills last week—including one that would require NYPD officers to report low-level stops—Mayor Eric Adams, with Police Commissioner Edward Caban, invited councilmembers to go on a police ride along next week in a public safety announcement on Sunday.
The bill, known as the “How Many Stops Act,” aims to increase reporting requirements for officers during low-level interactions with the public. Currently, officers only have to fill out a report following a “reasonable suspicion” stop.
Under the bill, cops would have to record the locations of stops, demographic information about the person stopped, reasons for the encounters and any instances that resulted in use-of-force or enforcement actions during these lower-level interactions.
The measure passed in the city council with a large enough majority to override Adams’ veto. For it to be upheld, a number of councilmembers would need to change their stance.
In pursuit of this outcome, Adams and Caban invited every city councilmember and citywide elected to go on a ride along next week “to see how this bill is enacted.”
“We want them to ride with a police officer, go listen to these calls and these jobs that are coming over the radio, see what it is to respond to these jobs, this is a moment where we must be on the ground,” Adams said during Sunday’s briefing.
Adams pointed toward the city’s 2023 drop in crime, including violent crime, and emphasized that the bill would be a drain on time and a threat to safety and community relationships. Caban echoed these points, and gave insight into the administration’s ride along offer.
“In an effort to continue our good-faith discussions with the authors and supporters of this bill, we invite any and all members of the City Council to join our officers as they do the vital work of keeping our city and its people safe. We want to show them firsthand the sheer scale of what NYPD cops and detectives do every day,” Caban said.
In response to City Hall’s public safety announcement, public advocate Jumaane Williams—who introduced the bill, and the other Adams vetoed, which would prohibit solitary confinement in NYC jails—made a statement claiming Adams “[hides] behind the pain and fears of people he misinforms and manipulates.”
"There was too much misinformation to address individually, but it’s infuriating to see the administration continue to deceive people about these bills and the reality on Rikers and in our streets,” Williams said.
Williams provided his full statement, as well as the text of Intro 549-A and Intro 586-A, in a post on X.
Council spokesperson Rendy Desamours provided a statement from city council in response to the public safety announcement that directly addresses both bills.
Of the How Many Stops act, the statement said: “Mayor Adams’ administration continues to ignore the fact that Level I investigative stops often include instances when officers are asking someone where they are going or for their identification absent criminal suspicion, something the Council understands. The differences between Level 1, 2, and 3 stops are often not apparent to New Yorkers who are impacted by these daily disruptions, underscoring the importance of transparency that the Council’s bill would achieve.”
Of the solitary confinement ban bill, the statement said: “Continuing the use of solitary and isolation exacerbates the dangerous conditions in our jail system, endangering both staff and those detained, and despite the mayor’s claims, solitary is replicated in various forms on Rikers.”
During Sunday’s briefing, Adams did deny the existence of solitary confinement in local jails.
“We don’t have solitary confinement in New York City jails. It was eliminated in 2019. So let me say again to all New Yorkers, it does not exist in our jails," Adams said.
Following the mayor’s veto on Friday, Speaker Adrienne Adams and Councilmember Yusef Salaam, an exonerated Central Park Five member, released a statement standing by their commitment to Black and Latinx New Yorkers, the bill and the council’s determination to override the veto.
“At a time when one out of every four stops made by the Mayor’s new police unit has been found to be unconstitutional, and civilian complaints are at their highest level in more than a decade, the Mayor is choosing to fight to conceal information from the public … The Council remains committed to honest dialogue about policy, and we are prepared to override this veto,” the statement read.
Speaker Adams and Salaam did not immediately respond to 1010 WINS/WCBS 880’s request for comment regarding the ride along offer.
Since the bill was introduced, Adams has been staunchly against it, arguing that the requirement would take police off the streets, negatively impact public safety and cause overtime costs to swell.
“When I was a police officer, I fought for transparency and against abusive policing tactics that targeted communities like the one where I grew up. Intro. 586-A would not advance those goals — it will slow down police response times and divert our officers from responding to emergency incidents," Adams said after city council passed the bill last month.