What's happening
This bill limits the use of unmarked or concealed identity police vehicles for stops, searches, or transporting detained individuals, requiring uniformed officers to be present.
Why it matters
Protects public trust and transparency by ensuring that police stops, searches, and transports are only conducted with clearly marked vehicles and uniformed officers present. This reduces confusion or fear that could arise from interactions with plainclothes officers in unmarked cars.
Limits potential for abuse or misconduct by restricting the circumstances in which plainclothes officers and unmarked vehicles can be used for citizen encounters. This helps address concerns over impersonation, ambiguous authority, or unrecorded detentions.
Empowers the state attorney general to seek injunctions against agencies or officers violating these rules—even without proof of individual harm—making enforcement more proactive and systemic. This means courts can halt improper practices before widespread damage or rights violations occur.
Sets clear standards for what qualifies as a “marked” police vehicle, requiring visible lights, sirens, and insignia,. which provides clarity to both law enforcement and the public about lawful police conduct and vehicle identification.
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Who cares
Police departments and peace officers
The bill would require a uniformed officer from the same governmental entity to remain present during transport in an unmarked or concealed-identity police vehicle following an arrest, detention or apprehension by a nonuniformed officer.
People stopped and searched
Officers traveling in unmarked or concealed-identity police vehicles could stop and search them only if the officers are uniformed or accompanied throughout by a uniformed officer from the same governmental entity.
State and local law enforcement fleet managers
The bill would classify police vehicles as unmarked or concealed-identity unless they have displayed, visible authorized lights, sounding audible signals and identifying police insignia.
New York attorney general
The bill would authorize investigations, subpoenas and court applications to halt violations without proof of injury, with courts also able to direct restitution.
Headline styles
Ban Unmarked Police Transports
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to codes
- Referred to codes
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
425
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
Introduced by Sen. LIU -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to limiting the transport of an arrested, detained or apprehended person in an unmarked police vehicle or concealed identity police vehicle and the use of such vehicles for stops and searches
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The civil rights law is amended by adding a new section 73-a to read as follows:
§ 73-a. Use of unmarked police vehicle for stop and search or transport of arrested, detained or apprehended person. 1. No person shall be transported in an unmarked police vehicle or a concealed identity police vehicle after being arrested, detained or apprehended by a police officer or peace officer of a governmental entity who is not wearing such officer's police uniform unless an officer in uniform from the same governmental entity is present for the duration of the transport.
2. No person shall be stopped and searched by a police officer or peace officer of a governmental entity who is traveling in an unmarked police vehicle or a concealed identity police vehicle unless such officer is wearing such officer's police uniform or is accompanied by an officer in uniform from the same governmental entity and such uniformed officer is present for the duration of the stop and the search.
3. A police vehicle shall be deemed to be unmarked or have a concealed identity unless it is equipped with:
(a) lights as authorized by subdivision forty-one of section three hundred seventy-five of the vehicle and traffic law, which are displayed and visible;
(b) a horn, siren, electronic device, or exhaust whistle from which audible signals are sounded; and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01671-01-5
(c) an insignia identifying such vehicle as a police vehicle as defined by this section.
4. Upon a violation of this section, an application may be made by the attorney general in the name of the people of the state of New York to a court or justice having jurisdiction by a special proceeding to issue an injunction and, upon at least five days notice to the defendant, to enjoin and restrain the continuance of such violations. If it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court or justice that the defendant has violated this section, an injunction may be issued by the court or justice, enjoining and restraining any further violations, without requiring proof that any person has, in fact, been injured or damaged thereby. In any such proceeding, the court may make allowances to the attorney general as provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of section eighty-three hundred three of the civil practice law and rules, and direct restitution. In connection with any such proposed application, the attorney general is authorized to take proof and make a determination of the relevant facts and to issue subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and rules.
5. For the purposes of this section:
(a) "governmental entity" means the state, a public authority, a police district, a county, town, city, or village;
(b) "police officer" means a police officer as defined in subdivision thirty-four of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law;
(c) "peace officer" means a peace officer as defined in section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law; and
(d) "police vehicle" means every vehicle for which the state, a public authority, a police district, a county, town, city, or village is the owner and which is operated by the police department or law enforcement agency of such governmental unit or by a constable or police constable of a town when acting pursuant to such person's special duties.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the civil rights law, in relation to limiting the trans- port of an arrested, detained or apprehended person in an unmarked police vehicle or concealed identity police vehicle and the use of such vehicles for stops and searches
Purpose or general idea of bill
To prevent non-uniformed police in unmarked vehicles from apprehending or otherwise detaining person
Justification
On July 28th, 2020, NYPD officers in t-shirts and shorts tackled a teen- age protestor, forced her into an unmarked minivan, and drove away. Videos of the incident taken by witnesses showed no visible markings identifying the officers or the vehicle as law enforcement. Some of the witnesses described this as a "kidnapping".
This incident drew similarities to tactics used by law enforcement offi- cers in Portland just days before, where protestors were forced into unmarked vehicles by people in street clothes and driven away. Report- edly, those law enforcement officers did not identify themselves and even threatened violence on anyone who followed after them.
Though the officers in the above NYPD case say they were following stan- dard procedures, the common and continued usage of these tactics damage the public trust in our police and our criminal justice procedure. It should be the right of an individual to know, unambiguously, when they're being apprehended by law enforcement, and they are not actually being kidnapped by unknown persons. Also, as with traffic stops by unmarked vehicles, the common usage of these unidentified "kidnap- ping"-style apprehensions undermines public safety rather than enhances it. This bill seeks to limit the use of such apprehension tactics by making it clear that the vehicle used to arrest or otherwise apprehend a person must be a marked vehicle, or a uniformed officer must be in the vehicle for the duration of the transport.
Prior legislative history
01/03/24 REFERRED TO CODES
01/11/23 REFERRED TO CODES
01/05/22 REFERRED TO CODES
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
None
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.