The City Council voted through three bills designed to decrease the amount of excessive force violations in New York City last month. In an overwhelming show of support for victims’ rights, the council voted 40 to 4 in favor of passing these three bills to be signed into law. These bills will allow the public and civil institutions better access to information concerning cases of excessive force in New York City-an important step toward rooting out the problem.
New York City has become a national headline after several high-profile cases of excessive force. As a result, the NYPD and its former Commissioner Bill Bratton came under significant and intense scrutiny for the perceived culture of acceptance of unnecessary force and vindictive brutality perpetrated by patrol officers and correctional officers in New York’s criminal justice system.
The first potential law would require a quarterly report to be published containing any “force incidents” or any type of violence perpetrated by a police officer-on-duty or off.
The second bill would require the NYPD to issue a quarterly report recording use of force organized by the type of force used and the reason why the officer felt the force was justified.
The third potential law would require an annual report published containing the total number of officers with incidents on record; broken down by precinct with special attention paid to officers with two or more complaints filed against them in the previous three years.
Vanessa Gibson of NYC’s Committee on Public Safety says that these bills, if signed into law, would not only help make officers accountable for incidents of excessive force in New York City but also retrain officers when force was necessary and when it is not.
A spokesperson for the NYPD told media outlets that the organization supports all three bills and that it worked closely with the authors to help craft the legislation.
If you’ve been the victim of police violence, it’s important to have a New York City excessive force lawyer on your side. Contact the Law Offices of Nussin S. Fogel at 800-734-8546 or 212-385-1122 today.