The Bronx Defenders (360 E 161 St.) hosted a town hall on Dec. 5 on the “How Many Stops Act.” This act includes two bills, including Intro. 586 which is sponsored by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and District 38 Council Member Alexa Aviles. This bill makes it mandatory “for the New York City Police Department [NYPD] to report on all levels of police street stops and investigative encounters, including where they happen, demographic information on the person stopped, the reason for the encounter, and whether the encounter leads to any use of force or enforcement action.”
Prior to Intro. 586, the NYPD has only been required to report on Level 3 stops (the highest level.)
Intro. 538 which is sponsored by Council Member Crystal Hudson would make sure the NYPD is correctly following the “Right to Know Act” by “Guaranteeing that the NYPD cannot go back on its promise to report on declined searches by explicitly codifying a requirement for the NYPD to report data on all requests for consent to search, including all requests for consent that are refused and all consent searches that actually take place. It would also require the NYPD to report on officers’ use of consent searches to collect DNA information from New Yorkers. Additionally, it would require the NYPD to report on its officers’ use of interpretation services when seeking consent to search from people with limited English proficiency.”
Interestingly, on the walk from the 161 St.-Yankee Stadium train station to the Bronx Defenders (about a 10-minute walk) I saw at least 10 police vehicles and dozens of police officers. However, there were no police officers in attendance at the town hall.
Those in attendance included the family of Antonio Williams, a 27-year-old who was fatally shot by members of the NYPD in 2019, as well as the brother of Allan Feliz, a 31-year-old who was also fatally shot by members of the NYPD in 2018.
“My son was murdered because of a so-called low-level stop,” said Shawn Williams, the father of Antonio Williams. “The public hears about people who have been killed by the police but how many more of these encounters happen when the only person who knows about it is unable to speak about it.”
Video shows Antonio Williams standing on the sidewalk, and his family says he was waiting for a cab when plainclothes officers came out of a vehicle. He ran away and they chased him. Williams and officer Brian Mulkeen struggled and both were killed by police fire. Williams had a revolver with him but it was not fired. In a recording of the incident, NYPD officers could be heard yelling “He’s reaching for it,” before the shooting. Williams was on probation for a narcotics arrest and had prior arrests but I could not find the cause for the plainclothes officers to chase after Williams on the night of the shooting.
Allan Feliz was pulled over for a seatbelt violation. After the NYPD ran his ID, they found he had three warrants against him. They tried to arrest Feliz but he then attempted to flee in his car. The police first used a stun gun and during the struggle, Feliz’s vehicle went into reverse. An officer had to let go of Feliz to avoid the car and after officers said the stun gun did not stop Feliz, they opened fire, killing him.
“This all happened in the span of about a minute and a half,” said Allan Feliz’s brother Sammy Feliz. “My brother was cuffed and lay bleeding out for 18 minutes. He still had life in him. They could have saved him. They chose not to. This is how they value or really, don’t value our lives.
“I was also stopped and frisked by the police and I complied with these officers not because of who they were but out of fear. As these officers interacted with me, they held their guns the entire time so it was a form of intimidation that they used for me to comply and that’s not right. That interaction under the ‘How Many Stops Act’ would’ve been documented and there would’ve been proof of what happened to me. Now there isn’t and those officers were free to walk away.”
There were a lot of other people in attendance who also spoke about having similar encounters with the police. One of the key points they made was that their encounters weren’t documented and did not become well known because there was not a tragic outcome. One woman said she was followed and stopped by police who said she looked like the suspect of a robbery before they ultimately let her go.
“Intro. 586 is asking the NYPD to report on low-level police street stops and investigative encounters,” Aviles said. “What we know from the experiences of our community members is that level one stops, which are most of the stops, escalate. In the worst-case scenario, they end up in the death of our community members. It’s really important for us to know the scale and scope of the policing that happens in our community and this is common sense.”
While many in attendance were appreciative of Aviles and Hudson, who both represent Brooklyn, they were frustrated that politicians from the Bronx were not more involved or leading the way. After one attendee called out Bronx politicians, District 16 Council Member Althea Stevens, who represents the Bronx got up and spoke.
“I grew up in the era of stop and frisk and I have been doing work around it for my entire career,” Stevens said. At a town hall last week, a young man said he was followed by police while he was walking home and they threw him against a wall, stopped and frisked him then let him go. He said he went home and cried. This has become normalized and we need it to stop.”
Mayor Eric Adams responded to the “How Many Stops Act,” with a statement that read, “The New York City Council has taken action today that, if implemented, will unquestionably make our city less safe. Since day one, our administration has made public safety our top priority, and we have delivered results: Overall crime is down, shootings are down, and New Yorkers are safer than they were two years ago.
“When I was a police officer, I fought for transparency and against abusive policing tactics that targeted communities like the one where I grew up. Intro. 586-A would not advance those goals — it will slow down police response times and divert our officers from responding to emergency incidents. In every City Council district in this city, our officers will be forced to spend more time in their cars and on their phones, and less time walking the streets and engaging with New Yorkers.
“As the city faces significant budget challenges, with an unprecedented $7 billion gap that must be closed next month by law, the City Council’s choice to pass this bill will mean millions of dollars in additional overtime costs that will force us to make further painful cuts… We are reviewing all options.”
NYPD leaders have also spoken out against the “How Many Stops Act,” including Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York (PBA) President Patrick Hendry.
“We do not have enough police officers,” Hendry said. “It will bury our officers’ heads in paperwork, it won’t help us with response times.”
Despite the City Council passing Intro. 586, Adams possesses the power to veto the act and said, “There is no way I will sign this bill into law,” in an interview on CBS.
