NYPD cops' traffic stop notes to be tabulated under new law - New York Daily News

Advocates think they know what New Yorkers will learn from a new city law requiring cops to document all vehicle and bicycle stops — that racial profiling exists, and more speeding and red-light cameras are needed at streets and intersections.

Then there’s the thinking of a retired Highway Patrol officer, who offered up a secret about how cops operate:

Many officers already write down data about traffic stops in their notebooks — but the NYPD has never collected and tabulated it.

The law, passed by the City Council in March, requires the NYPD to issue a quarterly report on vehicle stops that includes “the number of summonses issued, arrests made, vehicles seized, related use-of-force incidents, and vehicles searched and whether consent was provided.”

“This information would be disaggregated by precinct, race, ethnicity, and age of the driver,” the law states.

“Documenting each stop was always a smart thing to do,” the officer said. “We just put down where the stop took place and, since we have the discretion, why we let them go with a warning.”

The notes are a good idea “in case you were being watched by Internal Affairs or our integrity control officer. We were all instructed to do it.”

Some who suspect the NYPD of racial profiling in traffic stops expect the data uncovered by the new law will prove what they already believe.

“I think without any doubt it’s going to show that Hispanics and African-Americans are stopped at a higher rate,” said Bronx civil rights attorney Neil Wallerstein. He suspects “the numbers are going to be astonishingly high.”

Street safety advocates think the data will help their fight for more speeding and red light cameras, and for safer street designs.

For instance, data on police stops of bicyclists on sidewalks could show where bike lanes are needed, said Transportation Alternatives Deputy Director Marco Conner DiAquoi.

“When there are areas where 90% of bicyclists are being ticketed for riding on the sidewalk, you need to implement a safe biking infrastructure,” said DiAquoi.

He also said the data might show good places to put cameras to detect motorists who speed and run red lights.

As of Nov. 30, the NYPD issued 475,872 moving violations throughout the city in 2021. Out of that number, 135,672 — or 28% — were given out for blowing through red lights and speeding, according to NYPD stats.

The number does not include red light and speed camera summonses, which are issued out by other agencies, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

Eugene O’Donnell, a former cop who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, believes the new law will lead cops will make fewer vehicle stops — skewing the data advocates hope to collect.

“You’ll have to be crazy if you are willing to put yourself in the bullseye, get sued, investigated or even fired every time you put on your lights to pull someone over,” O’Donnell said.

“Making it a law is a bit over the top, but I don’t see anything wrong with it,” he said, adding that race never factored when he decided what vehicles to stop.

source: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-experts-weigh-in-on-new-law-to-catalog-car-stops-20220102-cy73o477affsvnzn5vw2lbhqtu-story.html

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