S7945A-2009 Actions

• Jul 16, 2010: SIGNED CHAP.176
• Jul 6, 2010: DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR
• Jun 29, 2010: returned to senate
• Jun 29, 2010: passed assembly
• Jun 29, 2010: ordered to third reading rules cal.113
• Jun 29, 2010: substituted for a11177a
• Jun 23, 2010: referred to codes
• Jun 23, 2010: DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
• Jun 23, 2010: PASSED SENATE
• Jun 18, 2010: AMENDED ON THIRD READING (T) 7945A
• Jun 10, 2010: ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
• Jun 9, 2010: 2ND REPORT CAL.
• Jun 8, 2010: 1ST REPORT CAL.861
• May 25, 2010: REFERRED TO CODES

S7945A-2009 Calendars

S7945A-2009 Votes

S7945A-2009 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S7945A

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 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.

S7945A-2009 Text

 S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 
 7945--A
 Cal. No. 861
 I N  SENATE
 May 25, 2010
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  ADAMS,  ESPADA,  PARKER -- read twice and ordered
 printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes -
 reported favorably from said committee, ordered to  first  and  second
 report,  ordered  to  a  third reading, amended and ordered reprinted,
 retaining its place in 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:

 

Section 1.

Section 140.50 of the criminal procedure law is amended  by
 adding a new subdivision 4 to read as follows:

 4.  IN  CITIES  WITH  A POPULATION OF ONE MILLION OR MORE, INFORMATION
 THAT ESTABLISHES THE PERSONAL IDENTITY OF AN  INDIVIDUAL  WHO  HAS  BEEN
 STOPPED, QUESTIONED AND/OR FRISKED BY A POLICE OFFICER OR PEACE OFFICER,
 SUCH  AS  THE  NAME,  ADDRESS  OR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER OF SUCH PERSON,
 SHALL NOT BE RECORDED IN A COMPUTERIZED OR ELECTRONIC DATABASE  IF  THAT
 INDIVIDUAL  IS RELEASED WITHOUT FURTHER LEGAL ACTION; PROVIDED, HOWEVER,
 THAT THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL NOT PROHIBIT POLICE OFFICERS OR PEACE  OFFI
 CERS  FROM  INCLUDING  IN  A COMPUTERIZED OR ELECTRONIC DATABASE GENERIC
 CHARACTERISTICS OF AN INDIVIDUAL, SUCH AS RACE AND GENDER, WHO HAS  BEEN
 STOPPED, QUESTIONED AND/OR FRISKED BY A POLICE OFFICER OR PEACE OFFICER.
 

S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD17469-02-0

*By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and Privacy Policy and verify you are over 13.

Discuss!