Prohibits law enforcement officers from arresting a person solely based on certain characteristics including race or ethnicity, language or accent, location where found, or type of job; establishes a penalty for officers who have violated such provisions.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10151
IN ASSEMBLY
February 12, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BORES -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Codes
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to prohibiting
law enforcement officers from arresting a person solely based on
certain characteristics
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The criminal procedure law is amended by adding a new
2 section 140.60 to read as follows:
3 § 140.60 Arrest without a warrant; when not authorized.
4 1. A law enforcement officer shall not arrest or detain for any peri-
5 od of time any person solely due to any of the following, or solely due
6 to any combination of the following, characteristics:
7 (a) the person's apparent race or ethnicity;
8 (b) the language the person appears to speak or the accent they appear
9 to speak with;
10 (c) the type of location at which the person was found by a law
11 enforcement officer or any other individual; or
12 (d) the type of job the person appears to have.
13 2. For the purposes of this section, "law enforcement officer" shall
14 mean any officer of a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency,
15 or any person acting on behalf of a local, state, or federal law
16 enforcement agency, including any police officer as defined in section
17 1.20 of this chapter and any person designated as a peace officer as
18 defined in section 2.10 of this chapter.
19 3. A law enforcement officer found to have violated this section
20 shall be liable for: (a) the greater of the actual damages or statutory
21 damages of not less than ten thousand dollars; and (b) costs and attor-
22 neys' fees.
23 § 2. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision,
24 section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent
25 jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or
26 invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation
27 to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, or part there-
28 of directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall
29 have been made.
30 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14803-01-6
