Prohibits the recording of certain identifying information of a person subjected to temporary questioning or search in a public place by police in certain cities

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 in 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 a an electronic database 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 Kelly 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 police stop suggest that it will be black and brown New Yorkers who will be implicated without legal justification in the those future criminal investigations. No police department in New York State should maintain a database of innocent

New Yorkers. This bill would prohibit the police from entering into an electronic 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, 88 percent of whom were released without further legal action taken. Of those stopped, 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, 32 percent were Latino, and 11 percent were white. In 2006, 508,540 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, 88 percent of whom were innocent of wrongdoing. Of those stopped, 49 percent were black, 29 percent were Latino, and 10 percent were white.