The city council is mulling over new rules to limit the New York Police Department's (NYPD) controversial stop-and-frisk practice, including appointing an inspector general to monitor the tactic.
The council discussed many bills relating to possible reforms to the controversial police policy. According to the data provided by a New York-based nonprofit organization "Center for Constitutional Rights" NYPD stopped 685,724 people on the streets on suspicion in 2011 alone, 84 percent of which were black or Hispanic. The same group filed a federal civil-rights suit in Manhattan in 2008 against the NYPD over the practice of this policy.
Nearly 200 people were present at the council's City Hall chambers for the hearing and many expressed their dislike of Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly's absence. The hearing included testimony from about a dozen people on the proposed four bills to reform the city's police force including appointing an Inspector General to monitor the Police Department.
However, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Raymond W. Kelly oppose this move as they contend that there is enough oversight already. Bloomberg's counsellor Michael Best often came at the receiving end of the attack as he spoke against the bills on behalf of the mayor and his department.
The bills demands that the police officers identify themselves with their name and rank before conducting the stop-and-frisk procedure and will have to explain the reason for the stop. It seeks to make it mandatory to inform individuals of their right to refuse a search and to obtain proof of their consent. The bills also aim to strengthen the prevailing ban on racial profiling.
