As many of you know last year at the request of every Law Enforcement entity in NYC I was requested to run for City Council. Why? Because then NYC Councilman Mark Weprin of the 23rd District where I live lied to police officers at every rank and put them in personal legal jeopardy.
The pivitol campaign issue was all about something called local law 71, the Community Safety Act of 2013. Former mayoral candidate Bill DeBlasio and City Councilman Mark Weprin of NYC for nine months hammered NYPD and asserted they were out of control violating the rights of everyone out of hand (stopping and frisking anyone in sight). The law, the NYS criminal procedure law and case law shapes the circumstances upon which search and seizure may occur and when a police officers common right of inquiry for Stop, Question and Frisk can occur. Local Law 79 on page two for the first time places NYC Police Officers in defined personal legal jeopardy which today NYS Supreme Court Judge Singh just affirmed. Police Officers will not be covered by the City Law Department which is the usual case for those city workers carrying out their paid function. Anyone can just file a law suite against a police officer and out of pocket those officers will be force to defend themselves, their families, reputations, estates, assets and more.
The magnitude of this law is far reaching and has with the strike of the pen "handcuffed" the NYPD from conducting even lawful Stop, Question and Frisks for fear of legal jeopardy coming into play. Anyone, anywhere can choose to sue them personally. No wonder why shootings in NYC are up 13% for the first six months of 2014 and up 1800% in the confines of the 75th Precinct for the current 28 day period. Bad law has consequences and if their ever was a bad law with horrible consequences this law is the poster child. Remember as a result of past NYPD activities in NYC over 7700 people are alive today, not from some affluent community but in the harshest places NYC Police Patrol.
Today, Ed Mullins president of the NYC Sergeants Benevolent Association spoke out as a result of a NYS Supreme Court ruling. Here's what he had to say:
Some Excellent Advice That Should Definitely Be Heeded [Applicable to All Ranks]
NYPD members can be SUED! - State Supreme Court Judge Anil Singh
By Ed Mullins — Thursday, June 19th, 2014; 4:42 p.m. ‘Sergeants Benevolent Association E-mail’
On Wednesday June 18, 2014 State Supreme Court Judge ruled members of the NYPD who engage in Stop, Question and Frisk can now be sued in accordance with the provisions of Local Law 71 as passed by City Council.
Once again I remind each of you, this law impacts your career, family and overall well-being.
As you go to work each day, your only assignment is to return home to your family. The POLITICIANS and the PEOPLE of this city are NOT SUPPORTING you, make no mistake about it!
Shootings are on the rise and gun arrests are down. DO NOT jeopardize your safety, careers and pensions! We are currently exploring an appeal.
Below is a summary of Judge Singh’s decision.
The court made three rulings. First, it ruled that the SBA and PBA had standing to challenge Local Law 71 and had properly brought suit against the City Council on behalf of their members. Second, it ruled that Local Law 71 is not preempted (and thus not invalidated) by state law, either because the state occupies the field of criminal procedure or because Local Law 71 conflicts with state law. Third, the court ruled that Local Law 71 is not unconstitutionally vague.
1- The court determined that the SBA and the PBA had standing to challenge the law because the availability of lawsuits against police officers, including the potential for police officers to be held individually liable for attorneys’ fees and costs that would not be indemnified, was an immediate threat of harm.
2- The court therefore rejected the City Council’s argument that the harm to police officers resulting from Local Law 71 was speculative.
3- The court also agreed with the SBA and PBA that the reputational harm that would result from such lawsuits was an injury that could be protected in courts as a matter of law. The court found that the SBA and PBA as organizations had properly brought suit on behalf of their members, because their mission and core function is to protect the rights and interests of law enforcement officers.
4- On the issue of whether Local Law 71 is preempted by the New York Criminal Procedure Law (the “CPL”) as an impermissible intrusion into the field of criminal procedure, the court concluded that the two laws exist in two different fields, because Local Law 71 is not a criminal procedure law, but rather a civil rights law. Noting that other municipalities have similarly enacted laws regarding civil rights, including racial profiling laws, the court observed that Local Law 71 does not prevent police officers from making stops, and that it simply creates consequences for police officers who engage in bias-based activities.
5- The CPL, according to the court, applies only to criminal prosecutions and procedural rights of defendants. In effect, the court agreed with the City Council that the CPL governs only matters that occur in criminal court, and found that, because investigative stops occur outside of court, they are not covered by the CPL.
6- The court further found that Local Law 71 does not conflict with the CPL because it does not place any restrictions on a police officer’s ability to stop, question, and frisk an individual beyond those established by the Supreme Court in Terry v. Ohio and by subsequent related cases. Instead, the court found, it requires only that a police officer consider an individual’s behavior or other circumstances linking the individual to criminal activity.
7- According to the court, prohibiting the use of race or another protected characteristic as the “determinative factor” in making a stop is consistent with state and federal law, and a stop that was based on such a characteristic would not satisfy the Terry standard in any event. Because Local Law 71 does not set a higher standard for stops than what is already required, the court reasoned, it is not inconsistent with state law. Nor, the court found, does Local Law 71’s use of a subjective standard result in a conflict, because, regardless of whether the stop is viewed objectively or subjectively, the same factual basis must exist before the stop can lawfully occur.
8- The court disagreed with the SBA and PBA that Local Law 71 is unconstitutionally vague. While the court acknowledged that in some circumstances Local Law 71 operates in a “grey area” because of the lack of definitions of its terms, it concluded that courts and administrative bodies could develop meanings for those terms over time, as cases come before them. The court also emphasized that the phrase “determinative factor” originates from the NYPD’s own internal anti-profiling policy, and asserted that the NYPD had acknowledged in a FINEST message that Local Law 71 is consistent with NYPD policy and training concerning investigative stops.
Fraternally,
/ s /
Ed Mullins
Elections have consequences and NYC just spent twenty years cleaning up the streets of NY. Police Officers are humanbeings and as such with guidance from supervisors and Union leadership will find themselves hard pressed to aggressively fight crime in our city especially as case after case winds its way though the courts. Which NYC Police Officer wants to be the test case to see if he or she acted within the scope of this new law. We say, few will opt in to make themselves an example for all others to follow. As such, the NYPD is pulling back and today we can begin to see the results starting to crystallize. The 75th precinct is notibly one of the toughest places in the City to work. Crime and violence now are returning to the streets, the City Council is demanding more police officers to patrol the street (the cost of this bad law is already showing), children are stabbed during daylight in elevators, people shot openly in the streets as crime, disorder and fear once again return to NYC.
This is a sad day for the City of NY.
