New York Gov. Cuomo signs police accountability legislation
Law allows release of police officers' long-withheld disciplinary records
ALBANY -- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a sweeping package of police accountability measures that received new backing following protests over George Floyd’s killing, including one allowing the release of officers’ long-withheld disciplinary records.
The measures were approved earlier this week by the state’s Democratic-led Legislature. Some of the bills had been proposed in years past and failed to win approval, but lawmakers moved with new urgency in the wake of massive, nationwide demonstrations over Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
“Police reform is long overdue, and Mr. Floyd’s murder is only the most recent murder,” Cuomo, a Democrat, said.
Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
Cuomo was joined at the signing ceremony by the Rev. Al Sharpton, Valerie Bell, the mother of Sean Bell, who was killed by an officer in 2006, and Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who was killed by police in New York in 2014.
“It was a long time coming, but it came,” Carr said.
NYPD: EVIDENCE OF ORGANIZED LOOTING
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins thanked Carr and Bell “for being brave and strong.”
“We are at a moment of reckoning. There is no doubt about it,” she said.
Meanwhile, members of the New York City Council said they would work to cut $1 billion in New York Police Department spending for the next fiscal year. The cuts would include overtime, headcount through attrition and shifting the department’s responsibilities, according to a joint council statement.
NY GOV. CUOMO APOLOGIZES TO NYPD BRASS OVER RIOT RESPONSE
The proposed cut to the NYPD is about 15% of the $6 billion annual budget for the department.
A New York police officer stands watch as May Day protestors gather outside the offices of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday, May 1. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
“Our budget must reflect the reality that policing needs fundamental reform. Over the last few weeks, we have seen an outpouring of New Yorkers demanding change from their leaders,” the statement said. “It is our job to listen – and to act. We will not let this moment pass, and we will fight for the budget they deserve.”
The laws will ban police chokeholds, make it easier to sue people who call police on others without good reason, and set up a special prosecutor’s office to investigate the deaths of people during and following encounters with police officers.
HOW NEW YORK'S CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE MADE THE PANDEMIC WORSE
“These bills mean some substantive change, so that we won’t be sitting here going over this after the next funeral and after the next situation,” Sharpton said.
Some bills, including body camera legislation, drew support from Republicans, who opposed legislation that repealed a state law long used to block the release of police disciplinary records over concerns about officers’ privacy.
Eliminating the law, known as Section 50-a, would make complaints against officers, as well as transcripts and final dispositions of disciplinary proceedings, public for the first time in decades.
NYPD officers block the exit of the Manhattan Bridge as hundreds protesting police brutality and systemic racism attempt to cross into the borough of Manhattan from Brooklyn. (Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)
NYPD spokesperson Sgt. Jessica McRorie said the department “will review the final version of the legislation and utilize it in a manner that ensures greater transparency and fairness.”
VARNEY RIPS CUOMO OVER CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE: 'NEW YORK CITY IS A MESS'
Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, New York City’s largest police union, said in a news release that Cuomo and the legislative leaders “have no business celebrating.”
Lynch said police officers spend their days addressing the “failures” of elected officials.
“Now, we won’t even be able to do that,” he said. “We will be permanently frozen, stripped of all resources and unable to do the job.”
Protesters rally Wednesday, June 3, 2020, in Phoenix, demanding the Phoenix City Council defund the Phoenix Police Department. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Cuomo has 10 days to act on other bills passed by lawmakers this week, including legislation prohibiting police from using racial profiling and another bill ensuring that individuals under arrest or in police custody receive attention for medical and mental health needs.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
During this week’s legislative debates, many lawmakers relayed their personal experiences with police.
On Friday, Stewart-Cousins, who is the first black woman to lead the state Senate, said her youngest son was once stopped and frisked when he was 18 and said he ended up with a fractured nose.
“Thank God I was able to bring him home,” she said. “Every parent, every mother who looks like me understood that scary notion with our kids, with our husbands, with our brothers.”
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said he’s had “not-so-positive” interactions with the police — from when he was young and even now as legislative leader.
“Growing up when you heard the stories of Anthony Baez and Sean Bell and Eric Garner, as a black man, I felt that could be me,” Heastie said.