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| Supporters of the NYPD Oversight override vote demonstrate on the steps of City Hall Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013 in New York. New York City council members say they will make history with a vote to override Mayor Michael Bloomberg's vetoes on police oversight bills. At a rally on Thursday before the vote, activists cheered and held signs that read "override." |
NEW YORK (AP)
-- The City Council on Thursday overrode Mayor Michael Bloomberg's
vetoes to create a watchdog for the nation's biggest police department
and make it easier to file profiling claims against officers amid
applause from supporters and angry warnings from opponents.
Bloomberg,
who had slapped down the legislation earlier this summer, said the new
oversight at the New York Police Department will make it "harder for our
police officers to protect New Yorkers and continue to drive down
crime."
"Make no mistake: The communities that
will feel the most negative impacts of these bills will be minority
communities across our city, which have been the greatest beneficiaries
of New York City's historic crime reductions," he said in a statement.
But
proponents see the oversight as a check on a police force that's come
under scrutiny for its heavy use of a tactic known as stop and frisk and
its extensive surveillance of Muslims, which was revealed in stories by
The Associated Press.
Douglas Bryant, an
educator from the Bronx who said he's been unfairly stopped by police a
couple of times, went to City Hall to watch the council's vote.
"I hope this will give the police some sense that our voice can be heard sometimes, such as today," Bryant said.
A packed spectators' gallery erupted in cheers when the vote was announced. Later, supporters exchanged hugs outside.
"Today
marks a monumental civil rights victory for New Yorkers," Councilmen
Jumaane Williams and Brad Lander, legislation sponsors, said in a
statement. "New Yorkers now know that police officers will now `serve
and protect' all New York City residents, regardless of race, ethnicity,
and sexual orientation."
The profiling bill passed with the minimum votes necessary, 34-15, while the inspector general proposal passed 39-10.
The
measures mark the most aggressive legislative effort in years to put
new checks on the NYPD. The vote came less than two weeks after U.S.
District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin's order for an outside monitor to
reform stop and frisk, a practice she said the department had used in a
way that violated the rights of hundreds of thousands of black and
Hispanic men. The city is appealing.
Civil
rights groups and minority advocates had pushed for the legislation,
propelled by complaints about stop and frisk and the surveillance of
Muslims.
Supporters say the new laws, coupled
with the judge's ruling, will end practices they see as unfair, will
mold a more trusted, effective police force and can change how other
departments use the policy.
"What happens in
New York city has consequences for the nation," National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People head Benjamin Jealous said,
suggesting police elsewhere look to the NYPD as an example.
The
debate on the bills veered into the personal and the historical, as
lawmakers invoked the upcoming 50th anniversary of the March on
Washington and discussed their constituents' and their experiences with
bias. Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, who's Hispanic and 8 1/2 months
pregnant, reflected on her hopes for her unborn son.
"I look forward to giving birth to this young man because I know he's coming into a better New York City," she said.
Opponents
said Thursday the measures would lower police morale but not crime,
waste money and not solve a broader problem of a police force under
pressure after shrinking by thousands of officers during the last
decade.
"If you are so adamant and passionate
about these issues, then find the courage to fix the budget long term
and put more cops on the street," Councilman James Oddo said.
Bloomberg
and police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the smaller police force has
nonetheless driven crime down without racially profiling. They say that
between the council measures and the court ruling, a police force that
has fought crime down to record lows will be tangled up in
second-guessing and lawsuits.
"There is a
reason major law enforcement organizations are all against this
legislation," Kelly said in a statement. "It will have an adverse impact
not only on our police officers but more importantly on the people and
the neighborhoods they serve, particularly in minority communities."
