Prohibits the electronic recording of certain information identifying information of a person subjected to temporary questioning or search in a public place by police officers.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A11177A REPLACEMENT 7/15/10
SPONSOR: Jeffries (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in
relation to temporary questioning of persons in public places in cities
with a population of one million or more
PURPOSE: To protect the privacy and due-process rights of innocent New
Yorkers who are stopped by the police and subsequently released without
further legal action.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: This bill prohibits the police from entering
into an electronic database the personal identifiers of individuals who
have been stopped and/or frisked by police and released without any
further legal action. This provision does not prohibit police from
entering into an electronic database generic identifiers, such as
gender, race, and location of the stop.
JUSTIFICATION: New York City police routinely stop, question, and
frisk New Yorkers at alarmingly high rates. Most of those stopped are
completely innocent of wrongdoing. And of the hundreds of thousands of
law-abiding New Yorkers stopped every year, the vast majority are black
and Latino. In 2009, for example, the NYPD stopped 574,304 individuals.
Of those who were the subject of a police stop that year, nearly ninety
percent were people of color and nine of every ten persons stopped were
released without any further legal action taken against them. NYPD data
demonstrate that the police have conducted 2.5 million stops since
2005.(1)
However, the problem of excessive and unjustified street stops is
exacerbated by the NYPD's practice of entering into an electronic data-
base the personal information - including names and addresses - of the
millions of innocent people stopped by the police. These individuals are
now permanently under police suspicion and surveillance.
There is no legitimate justification for such a database. According to
the NYPD, the database is maintained for use in future investigations.
But New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Public Safety
Committee Chair Peter F. Vallone, Jr., have pointed out in a letter to
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Nally that archiving in a database information
about persons who are innocent of wrongdoing "raises significant privacy
right concerns and suggests that these innocent people are more likely
to be targeted in future criminal investigations." And the gross racial
disparities in the population subject to a polite stop suggest that it
will be black and brown New Yorkers who will be implicated without legal
justification in those future criminal investigations. No police depart-
ment in New York State should maintain a database of innocent New York-
ers. This bill would prohibit the police from entering into an electron-
ic database personal information - such as name, social security number,
and address - of innocent individuals who are stopped by the police and
released without further legal action taken against them.
This statutory prohibition is needed to protect the privacy and due
process rights of the hundreds of thousands of innocent New Yorkers who
are stopped and released each year.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None to State.
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: Nominal administrative fees for change.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
FOOTNOTE: (1) According to NYPD data provided, to the New York City
Council, the police in 2008 stopped 531,159 New Yorkers, 68-percent of
whom were released without further legal action taken of those stooped,
51 Percent were black. 32 percent were Latino, and 11 percent were
white. In 2007, 468,732 New Yorkers were stopped by the police, 87
percent of whom were innocent of wrongdoing. Of those stopped, 52
percent were black, 31 percent were Latino, and 11 percent were white.
In 2006, 509,510 New Yorkers were stopped by the police, 90 percent of
whom were innocent of wrongdoing. Of those stopped, 53 percent were
black, 29 percent were Latino, and 11 percent were white. In 2005,
399,043 New Yorkers were stopped by the police, 28 percent of whom were
innocent of wrongdoing. Of those stopped, 49 percent were black, 29
percent were Latino, and 10 percent were white.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
11177--A
R. R. 113
IN ASSEMBLY
May 24, 2010
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JEFFRIES, AUBRY, MILLMAN, CHRISTENSEN,
PEOPLES-STOKES, BENJAMIN, GIBSON, CRESPO, ROBINSON, N. RIVERA, PERRY,
CAMARA -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. FARRELL, GLICK, GOTTFRIED,
LIFTON, ORTIZ, REILLY, TOWNS -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Codes -- reported from committee, advanced to a third reading,
amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place on the order of
third reading
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to temporary
questioning of persons in public places in cities with a population of
one million or more
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 140.50 of the criminal procedure law is amended by
2 adding a new subdivision 4 to read as follows:
3 4. In cities with a population of one million or more, information
4 that establishes the personal identity of an individual who has been
5 stopped, questioned and/or frisked by a police officer or peace officer,
6 such as the name, address or social security number of such person,
7 shall not be recorded in a computerized or electronic database if that
8 individual is released without further legal action; provided, however,
9 that this subdivision shall not prohibit police officers or peace offi-
10 cers from including in a computerized or electronic database generic
11 characteristics of an individual, such as race and gender, who has been
12 stopped, questioned and/or frisked by a police officer or peace officer.
13 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD17469-03-0
