Transcript: Mayor Adams Vetoes City Council Bill That Could Make NYC Streets Less Safe

January 19, 2024

Deputy Mayor Philip Banks III, Public Safety: Good morning. So, I'm Phil Banks, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety. We are joined here today by the mayor of the City of New York, Eric Adams. Edward Caban, the NYPD police commissioner. Jeff Maddrey, the NYPD chief of department. Michael Gerber, who's the NYPD deputy commissioner of Legal Matters. Lisa Zornberg, who's the chief counsel to the mayor. Patrick Hendry, New York City PBA president. 

Paul DiGiacomo, president of the New York City Detectives Association. Bishop Gerald Seabooks. Jackie Rowe-Adams who's the founder and CEO of Harlem Mothers S.A.V.E. and Fathers S.A.V.E. Don Winter, Board Chairman of Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. 

Mo Razvi, founder and executive director of the Council of the People's Organization. Radimus Rodriguez, president of the United Bodega's Association. Barbara McFadden, president of the Nostrand Houses and vice chair of NYCHA Citywide Council of Presidents. 

Francisco Marte, who's the president of the Bodega Association. Wellington Chen, executive director, Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation. Our good friend, Kathy Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City. 

We also have Tom Gretz, Queens Chamber of Commerce. Randy Peers, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. Linda Baran, President and CEO of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, Lisa Sorin, president of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, Sheik Drummeh, chairman, Islamic Cultural Center of North America. 

Rabbi Kalish, the CEO of Hatzalah, We have Balwinder Singh, who is a Sikh leader. Mitch Silva, executive director for UGA's Community Security Initiative. Antonio Cabrera, The Livery Round Table, Marcello Regalado, who's a National Hispanic Business Group. We have Sandra Jaquez, representing the New York Latino Bar & Lounge Association. We have Susana Osorio, who's a small business owner. 

[Inaudible]. We also have John Paul, general counsel of the Korean Association from Queens. We also have Mr. Cagney, president of the Korean Association, and Dom Lee from Homecrest. 

So, once again, good morning. We're here today to make an announcement concerning recent legislation that will have an impact on public safety. We strongly believe, as you'll hear today, that it will have a negative impact on public safety. 

Mayor Adams has made it very clear from the beginning that our guiding light is public safety, that's what drives us. How do we protect the public? One, we work closely with the community to make sure that they are safe and to make sure that they feel safe. 

Two, we make sure that the people who work in our public safety agencies have the support they need to do their jobs. And three, we make sure we're allocating our resources efficiently so we can better serve New Yorkers. 

This is what this announcement is all about: strong community engagement, support for the public safety workforce and ensuring that government operates efficiently. 

I'd like to introduce the mayor the City of New York, Mayor Eric Adams. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much, Deputy Mayor Banks, and I thank the community leaders who are here, many who have toiled in the field of public safety for so many years. We understand and we believe that public safety is the prerequisite to our prosperity. 

And there are those today who are going to try to classify this moment as a moment against the City Council in general and specifically of Adrienne Adams, who is my high school classmate and I consider to be a friend. 

And as a leader in the City Council, we together in the last two years have navigated this city out of Covid, we are navigating the asylum seeker crisis, we are navigating the challenges in the budgetary issues that we have. And I'm proud to have a fellow Baysider, grew up in the same community, and now we sit on across the halls but we have the same mission in mind. 

I believe — and I want to be very clear on this — I believe the City Council's intentions were good intentions. There were parts of this bill that we agreed on. We believe that we should continue to move forward with transparency and accountability. 

No one knows that better than me. I fought to change the legislation in Albany when we were holding a database of people who were stopped during the stop and frisk era. I met with former Governor Cuomo when he was the AG many years ago with his team to ask for the attorney general to look into close to a million people who were being stopped, documented and undocumented. 

I testified in federal court, and the judge in her ruling, mentioned my testimony as ruling against the abusive behavior of stopping innocent people. 

My legacy is on ensuring we have police transparency and also accountability, but part of that legacy that's often ignored is my desire to have communities and police officers build a bond, a bond that they know public safety is a trust that is something that we build together. 

This bill hurt both areas, and that is why we're here today. So, in no way do I want anyone to think this is an anti council veto or anti speaker veto. It is a pro public safety veto that I'm doing today. 

And since day one, as the deputy mayor stated, I don't know anyone in this city that can't finish the line, "public safety is the prerequisite to our prosperity." I've said this over and over again. 

And there are many bills that come through our legislative body that I disagree with. Some I sign, some they lapse into law. I believe we did one veto thus far. So, this is not something that's normal for our behavior. We respect the role of the City Council to be a balance in government. 

But when it comes down to the safety of this city, I cannot compromise. We have had much success because of the action of the former police commissioner and now the current police commissioner. We are clear: crime is down, jobs are up, tourism is back, the city is moving in the right direction. 

Allow us to continue the job we have started in creating a safe city, more economically viable and more livable for working New Yorkers. That is our north star, and we have moved towards that north star every day. 

And since coming to office 24 months ago, we've been dedicated to making New Yorkers safer, not only in the numbers, but people must feel safe. That is the balance we talk about all the time. The commissioner can give you the stats, but if it doesn't meet the fact that people are feeling safe, then we are not reaching the destiny that we want to reach. 

So, two years later the results are clear. As I indicated, crime is down. and we're going to continue to move down shootings, homicides, our major seven crime categories. 

But the How Many Stops Act compromises our public safety, Intro. 586. The intentions were good. We agree on much of the bill. But the aspect of Level 1 stops, and I don't believe some of the people who voted for the bill fully understand, as I hear more and more with the conversations I'm having that people don't fully understand what a Level 1 stop is. 

That is codified in the judge's ruling. We can't alter that, we can't change that. That's the aspect of the bill that we believe is extremely detrimental to public safety in the city. 

And you know how important this is to me. You know my story, you know being arrested by police as a child. You know being abused at the hands of law enforcement. You know going into the Police Department turning the pain into purpose. 

You know my advocacy. I'm not standing here as someone that does not believe that we need to make sure we have proper oversight of police, I'm someone that's here stating that we could have both if it's done thoughtfully and correctly. 

And then you know the stories of some here. Jackie Rowe Adams, who has been an advocate, who has lost her loved ones to violence, and others who have been victims, their community and who have experienced, who lived in public housing and know what it is to have S.A.V.E., those from communities like the Sikh community who have been targeted from hate crimes and others. These are people who are not only pro police, but they're pro oversight, but it has to be done correctly. 

And so today, this reform that we fought for for years, we're saying the desire of the bill is misguided, and we want to make sure we get the right type of language that would not hurt law enforcement. 

Intro. 586 requires police officers to report on the most basic interactions with the public. The most basic interactions, they have to document. They have to guess their age, guess their gender, guess their ethnicity, write down a reason why they stopped them. 

That in itself is going to deter people from wanting to talk to police officers. The public don't want to be interviewed constantly by police officers. That is not what we are looking for. Not only drowning officers in unnecessary paperwork that will saddle taxpayers with tens of millions of dollars in additional NYPD overtime each year, but also taking officers from policing our streets and engaging with the community. 

We cannot handcuff the police, we want to handcuff bad people who are violent. That's the goal. That's the goal. And they should be building trust. The incident that took place a few days ago where a person was out for almost two days stabbing innocent people. The police commissioner had the chief of detectives and their team, we interacted with a thousand people, a thousand people. 

And some people say, well, that is maybe something just a once in a lifetime, an extreme example. No, it is not! So, if you have a thousand people, even if you go on the low end, that each one of those people takes three minutes to document that interaction, multiply that three minutes by the thousands of people. 

You're talking about 49 hours, two days. Instead of leaving the person you're speaking with to go find the next person, to find a bad guy, you're spending minutes talking to that person to gather the basic information. Those are minutes that are being taken away of finding the person who's committing the stabbings. 

That's our focus: it's not paperwork, it's police work. And all of this is already on body camera. We're already using body cameras to document these interactions and making sure that we're getting exactly what we expect from our police officers. That's why I'm vetoing this legislation. 

And I want to be clear, it's not about holding police officers accountable. It's about making sure we do not prevent them from doing their job and continue what we have done so many times. 

Yesterday, we talked about how important it is to remove dangerous people off our streets. This bill will impact that in a real way. Police work is difficult work. It's hard and challenging work. We saw two officers shot the other day as they entered a building. They're asking individuals that if you see anything, did you hear anything. 

Each one of those persons that they stop on their way into the building, they have to pause to gather the information who they are with their gender, with their ethnicity. Why did they stop them? Because remember, you're not just keeping all this in your head. If you stop 20 people on your way to responding to a job, you have to document those 20 people. 

Did you see someone flee the scene? Did you hear anything? What were they wearing? Now you have to pause at each one of those individuals, write down in your memo book or document on the app that the interaction you had before you go to resolve the job. 

And so some would say, well, why don't they just do it at the end of the job? Then they're violating the rules because they didn't remember everyone they spoke with. And if that body camera is not synced to everyone they spoke with and they didn't document it, now those officers are open for potentially departmental charges because they didn't properly follow the rule. 

Think about the practicality and the operationalizing of this initiative. Good intention, but the practical implementation is challenging. 

The NYPD will continue to do its job. We will continue to give them the support that they need. Every minute counts, every second counts. That is why in the Mayor's Management Report we talk about how many minutes it takes to respond to crises. 

Seconds count during emergencies, seconds count. And so anyone who dismissed this, that it’s just two, three minutes, don't really fully understand what it takes to carry out law enforcement day to day. Every minute counts on the scene. When those officers were wrestling with the person who snatched the officer's gun in that household, minutes and seconds counted before saving the lives of officers and other innocent people. 

And so we want to make sure we continue to build the relationship with our community and police. This will hurt that. This is going to create an environment where police people believe the mere fact that they call to respond or call for service, they're going to now have to be documented. 

This is against the bill that I had passed in Albany where we say you no longer keep your database of individuals that you interact with. This is how people are going to fail, and it's just in the wrong direction. 

And who's not here today that support us? Each of the five district attorneys. If you do an analysis of how many cases have been dismissed or dropped because the district attorney is not having enough time to gather more and more paperwork that must be turned over to the defense attorney. 

We gave them an unfunded mandate, and they've been inundated with paper. Each one of these stops, the 8.5 million interactions, each one of those documentations must be turned over to the district attorney; who must, in return, turn it over to the defense attorney. Volumes and volumes is going to bottleneck our criminal justice system. 

And I understand what they are going through, and I thank them for raising and adding their voices to how this bill is going to impact the criminal justice aspect and the prosecutorial aspect of carrying out this bill. 

New Yorkers want their police on patrol. I have not been in one community board, one precinct council meeting, one civic meeting, one block association meeting, I have not been in one that people say we don't want our police. I have not been in one. 

A loud voice years ago said, defund our police. That is not what community residents say in NYCHA. That is not what community residents say in our community boards. 

I have not walked into one meeting where people say I don't want my police officer on the corner. I don't want to see him when I come out of the subway system. I don't want him on the platform. I don't want him on the train. That is not what people of the city, what working class people of this city want. 

And every day, as your mayor, I'm going to continue to work towards ensuring that we protect this city and continue the work that this police department with this police commissioner has done. The city must be safe. We must continue the success that we've had. It's a foundation of our prosperity. 

It gives me great pain to have to veto the intention of the bill, but I must make sure that this city continues to be safe. And I'm asking the City Council members to read this entire bill and then compare it with a Level 1 stop and see and fully understand the interaction of talking to someone when the child is lost, the interaction of finding out what happened during a particular incident, the interaction of any interaction of delivery of service by the police must be documented. 

That is what this bill is saying. Even if they did not intend it to say it, that is what it is saying. And that is why we are so passionate about this. We can't go backwards, we have to move forward and utilize our manpower and resources to protect the people of the city, not to do more paperwork. 

And I'm vetoing this bill today because of that, and I'm hoping that the City Council will understand the place that we are coming from. We're not coming from an argumentative place. We're not coming from being disagreeable. We're coming from a place of public safety. 

This bill is going to get in the way of that, and it will change how we police in this city for decades to come. And we can't allow that to happen. 

Deputy Mayor Banks: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd just like to note out that, you know, as a police officer, we had... I worked with a police officer named Eric Adams. He was a police officer that birthed a lot of this stuff here. 

And he was in with police commissioners, and he was in with mayors and saying, this is wrong. Then he made sergeant, he said this is wrong. Then he made lieutenant. Then he made captain. He never changed, he said, this is wrong. 

So, this is not someone who's... He's not new to this. And as a fellow officer, we were always proud because he stood up. And I remember a conversation that we had, we had a meeting, I was the chief of the department, it was a very heated meeting. 

When he walked out, the police commissioner said, you know what? He always brings a solution. I might not always agree with it, but he comes with not just the problem, the solution. He's been doing this a long time. 

The mayor is telling you we agree, we concur with certain parts of this bill. The intention was there. This one part of the bill is going to negatively impact your communities. 

And if you cannot listen to someone who's done it and shown it, I'm not sure where as a city we go one. And now we'll hear from the police commissioner of the City of New York, Eddie Caban. 

Police Commissioner Edward Caban: Thank you, deputy mayor, and thank you, Mr. Mayor. And good morning, everyone. 

Along with Mayor Adams and members of the community, we are here today to make a very simple, straightforward point: effective policing is completely dependent on positive community engagement. Every single day, the men and women of the NYPD interact with people they serve in countless ways. 

And whether it's responding to a 911 call, asking for information as an officer is out on patrol, searching for a missing person or knocking on doors. doors to ask if anyone has seen a suspect, each one of these interactions is based on a certain level of trust. And at the end of the day, that's what we're talking about here today. 

Above all else, New Yorkers need a police department that is 100 percent focused on keeping them safe. That's the job we were sworn to do. And this bill, despite it's possible good intentions, does not make our city any safer; instead, it turns every day engagement between the community and their cops into transactional record keeping. 

Its purpose may be to oversee the police department, but in practice, it looks and feels like oversight of the people we are out there protecting. We have to do this work hand in hand with the public. That means talking to them, asking for their help when we need it and making the real lasting connections that have such a positive impact on public safety. 

This is the only way to do this job well, and it's the only way we'll keep New York City the safest big city in the nation. But we don't make these connections by asking for or guessing at personal information: their age, their race, their gender, every time we speak to them. This is not building relationships, it's just fueling mistrust and alienation. 

It is doing nothing to improve safety and quality of life in our city. I don't have to tell New Yorkers what's at stake for them or for their police officers every day. We all know that every minute matters, that every second makes a difference. We know the real world consequences, and we understand there is only one acceptable outcome, and that's public safety. That is what New Yorkers demand, it's what they deserve; and no matter what, that's what the NYPD is going to deliver. 

So, we stand alongside our residents, community groups, subway riders, community workforce and the millions of visitors we have each year and we echo their wants and need for the NYPD to be focused on one thing: keeping people safe with fair, effective and efficient police work. And we are grateful to have the support of our mayor. Thank you. 

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, next, we're going to hear from the President of the Police Benevolent Association, Patrick Hendry. Pat. 

Patrick Hendry, President, Police Benevolent Association: Thank you. I want to thank Mayor Adams for taking a stand and vetoing this bill. 

At the end of the day, this isn't about politics, this is about public safety. We want every New Yorker to understand how hard your police officers are working every single day helping your community, all of us together, making it a safer community. 

Any extra burden, extra paperwork — our police officers deal with witnesses every single day and the community — can drive a wedge between police officers, and police officers and witnesses, and the community. 

This bill is not about better policing, it's about less policing. It's about our police officers doing more paperwork and less work. And we hear from the community all the time. We know what they want. They want more of a police presence on the streets. They want faster response times. 

We need leaders who are going to help us accomplish those goals. So, I want to thank Mayor Adams for showing that true leadership here today and I thank you. 

Deputy Mayor Banks: And just to be clear for everybody here, this is not about if the police stop a suspect, right? If it's a suspect, we're all in agreement. 

This is when you ask a witness, did you hear anything? Did you hear a shot being fired? Somebody called for a cry for help. This is about impacting witnesses who, we can't do our job without them. 

So, this is not about suspects. The mayor was very clear about that, when he said that part of the bill, that we are stopping a suspect we're all in agreement the intention of the bill. 

This is about walking up to someone that says, hey, we're looking for a child who is missing, and now spending time. We're looking for, we heard a shot fired. Did you hear anything? So, I just want to be very clear that the message coming from the administration, if the police are stopping a suspect, we're fine. We're in agreement with the council. 

But this is much more than that. And that's when the mayor talks about the intention of the bill about and what's put into it. 

And next we're going to hear from the president of the Detective Endowment Association, Paul DiGiacomo. 

Paul DiGiacomo, President, Detectives’ Endowment Association: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank all in attendance here today. 

You know, public safety is very important to the survival of New York City. And if New York City detectives can't do their job effectively and investigate these shootings, these high impact crimes that are happening throughout the City of New York and are going to be tied up with paperwork, it's going to be counterproductive to the safety of the people of this city. 

Now, New York City detectives are out there every day investigating shootings, assaults, sex crimes, and they traditionally do canvases. And when they do these canvases, they obtain a tremendous amount of information. 

Now, they get that information, and a lot of times the people that give the information don't want to be named or remain anonymous. So, our detectives need to do their job effectively, and this bill would not help solve these crimes and bring some closure to the victims of crime. 

And I ask the people that put this bill together, and I ask Jumaane Williams, when is the last time you did a piece of legislation for the victims of crime? I don't remember any. 

Deputy Mayor Banks: And next we're going to hear from the top uniform person in the NYPD, Chief of the Department, Jeff Maddrey. 

Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, Chief of Department, Police Department: Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, Commissioner Caban, all of our partners, our stakeholders here. 

Just really quick. We talk about suspects and witnesses, I just want to share a quick story. In November, I was standing at the finish line of the marathon. I'm in awe of all the runners coming across the line. And I see one of the runners, he comes across, he's standing there, he gets a little woozy. 

And I look at him, I say, hey, are you all right? Can I get you a Gatorade? And he says yes. When you look at the terms of that bill, based on that, I would have to do a report. 

So, it's not even about witnesses and suspects. Sometimes it's just about providing people with help. If I ask them, if I see someone who looks ill or maybe they look despondent, and I ask them, can I help you? I just created a bill… I created a piece of paper when all my intentions were to make sure that that person was safe and if they needed some help. 

And if they said, no, I don't need any help, you know, they'll go about their way, I have to do a piece of paper. If I do have to give them some help, I have to write a piece of paper. We don't need to create any more work for these officers, for the women and men who are out here every day, risking their lives, keeping this city safe, who want to build bridges with this community and connect with community. 

Something as simple as offering someone help when they may need it creates more paperwork for this department. It is something we don't need. It is something this city doesn't need. It's going to be a burden on everyone in this city. Thank you. 

Deputy Mayor Banks: So, next we will hear from Jackie Rowe-Adams. 

Jackie Rowe-Adams, Founder and CEO, Harlem Mothers and Fathers S.A.V.E: Okay. Everybody's so serious! Hello, everybody! This is a great day, but I'm kinda sad. I'm sad because two years, our mayor just made two years, and he's done more in two years than any mayor have done in four. 

So, why are we standing here being questioned about the work that NYPD is doing? Why are you tying NYPD hands? That means you're tying our city's hands. That means that you don't have confidence in our mayor that got so much stuff done. 

That mean, City Council, you have some good people on City Council, I have a lot of associates on City Council, but who are you following? You have a brain. Use your brain. You see the safety of this community. You see that when two cops got shot, they went to take care of the community. 

They're taking care of their city. They're putting their lives on the line every day. Untie their hands. And this ain't just start, this started a long time ago. 

But I want to stand here and say, Jumaane didn't do this by himself, but you all could undo this and make it right. Make it that we can walk down the street safe as the police been doing. Make it not political because it's election time. Don't make it political on our kids' backs. I lost my two sons. I brought a bunch of moms and dads here today that lost their kids. 

Don't make it political. Don't tie a cop's hand on your political status. Do not think negative all the time about police, because when something happens, who you going to call? Who are you going to call? You're not going to call Ghostbusters... Are you going to call Ghostbusters? 

And you're definitely not going to call Jumaane Williams because he gonna be hidin' some place.  

And let me say this, see, this is all connected, I've been dealing and I have to say it because this ain't just start. If you say to Jumaane Williams the sky is blue and you see it's blue, he gonna say it's red. 

And I know from experience for years he would tell you— and he probably will— that Jackie Rowe Adams, and I been at it a long time, because he's the most negative leader I know. 

And I've told him this, so I ain't just start this. But what I'm saying even with him being negative, come on together you're talking about saving lives. You're talking about stop taking it personal because you had a bad outcome with the police that was your fault. 

Come on. The police is saving lives. We need our police in our communities. Work with the mayor! Stop all this personal stuff like a big kid! We need our city to work, y'all! We need our city to work! We have to make this work, because a lot of lives... 

Now, if you wanna be negative and you wanna try to shut the police down, why don't you help the police stop some of this gun violence in here? Okay? 

Every day our kids are shooting each other. Crime is down because the police is out there with their lives on the line. Us mothers are hurting and crying. But thank God for the police. 

Now, Jumaane, you could be a help to us. Stop some of these guns. Help stop some of these guns coming into our city or state. You could be a help to us. Talk and mentor some of these young kids and tell them to stop shooting each other. And whether you want to hear it or not, it is Black on Black crime! 

And we are killing each other. And you're talking about the police? Let's talk about us. So, I leave you with this. I don't want to leave you at all. 

But I say to you, everyone that's in this room, no, everybody not going to agree. But let's think about, let's think about saving lives. Let's think about the new generation that's coming up to take our chief...our [Deputy] Mayor Banks… He's always my chief. Mayor Banks Place. 

Let's talk about the Eric Adams, the Mayor Eric Adams that's coming up in the world. Let's get them ready. And that's what I'm looking forward to our electeds to do. It is election time. If you don't do it, I say to the public, vote 'em out. Thank you. 

Deputy Mayor Banks: And last, to take us home, we're going hear from Bishop Joe Seabrooks. Bishop, good seeing you, as always. 

Bishop Gerald Seabrooks: Good morning, and thank you, Honorable Mayor Eric Adams. The United Clergy Coalition, which is united pastors coming together all throughout the five boroughs, work very closely with the New York City Police Department to improve community safety, eliminate gang warfare, gun control and improve the quality of the life for all New Yorkers. And have open communication that embodies trust. 

In part, the intervention and partnership with the Faith Based Alliance and the police have created firm belief in the ability to continue to ameliorate the safety of the public at large as well as those who serve to protect us. 

We have reservations about the How Many Stops Act and the passage of every Level 1 encounter. It is very subjective and would murky the amount of success community policing has had during Mayor Adams' term in office. 

By definition, the right to request information under suspicious circumstances can be confrontational, and tends to be dealt with in an aggressive way or interpreted in some high crime communities that way. We understand that when cops investigate crime committed in those neighborhoods, the person questioned will reflect the demographics of the victims and the surrounding areas. 

How much time will it take to gather the data from individuals that ultimately takes away from community protection? Instead, it will inflate the overtime cost in just doing paperwork. 

Inherent danger for individual officer safety. There was never a forum for the community to be enlightened, exchange ideas on the bill or have transparent discussion about its relevance. So, our prayers is that you, honorable mayor, will veto this law. 

Mayor Adams: God answers prayers, because I'm going to veto this law. 

Question: Yes. So, Mr. Mayor, is there any middle ground on this with the council, or are you just looking to entirely eliminate any documentation of Level 1 stuff? 

Mayor Adams: No, there is. And as Deputy Mayor Banks stated, we have been clear, there are parts of this bill that we like and we agree on. And actually, many people are new to this conversation; this is an old conversation for me. 

And you know, much of these reforms, if you were to go do an analysis of and show the real history of the city, these are the reforms I pushed for, and I'm proud to see some of them materializing. 

So we are saying to the council, Level 2 stops, Level 3 stops, we hear you. Level 1 interactions is problematic. The volume of that, as Chief Maddrey gave an excellent example. When I speak with some of my colleagues in the council, they will say, no, that doesn't require documentation. 

That's saying to me, they really didn't see what the bill was saying. That does require documentation. Finding a lost person requires a documentation. Everyone we show that picture with, a documentation. And it's not like you…  

This is so important. If an officer is out trying to find a lost person, as he moves from person to person to ask, do you know this person? Have you seen this person? He can't just accumulate in his head that I spoke to a large number of people. When he speaks to that person, he has to document. When he goes to the next person, he has to document. 

He has to have accurate documentation because information that he documents is used later in not only departmental proceedings, criminal proceedings, civil proceedings, and he has to be accurate when he does it. 

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor Adams: Yes, how are you doing? 

Question: Just want to follow up on that, just to be clear. So, under the departmental policy as it is right now, you do have to note Level 2 demographic, first stops with body worn cameras and Level 3. And Level 1, you're just checking a box that there was a Level 1 stop. So, the sticking point here is the demographic data for a Level 1 stop. 

Mayor Adams: No. This is the sticking point, that you're gathering items already on your body. We're documenting a lot. This police department is documenting more than what they've ever done before. 

The volume of each one of those stops, if you called me and you say, Police Officer Adams, my daughter's missing. You give me a photo of her, and I go out and do what's called a canvas: I stop and ask everyone, did you see this little girl? 

Each stop I have, I have to guess their gender, guess their race and other items, and then I have to say why I stopped this person to ask them that question. The volume of doing that with every person is what the problem is. 

We're saying take out those interactions where you're just doing these reviews, not dealing with any criminal criminality of nature. That should not be part of this bill of counting the stops that you're making. 

Question: Right, so the Level 1's the demographic information, because they're already, when they review their body worn camera at the end of the shift, they dock it, if there's a Level 1 they just Level 1 move on, we don't have to put anything. Level 2, they have to do demographic; Level 3, they have to do the whole other form. 

Mayor Adams: Exactly. Exactly, because and what you said is very important, because at the end of the day, those officers have to go back, dock that camera, and there's actions that they have they have to do. 

And so in a real universe, an officer is not only doing one job a night, he may get that missing person at the beginning of the tour, he may get a call of a lost dog in the next hour, he may get a call of a suspicious person. So, in the night, you're having so many jobs, you're documenting every time you respond to the job. And officer can talk... One officer can talk to anywhere from 50 to 60 to 100 people in one tour, in one tour. 

Deputy Mayor Banks: And I just want to note that the Level 1's are tagged by video, and this is a question I ask for the council. How many of you have rode in the back of a police car? How many [inaudible] for a tour or two? Now you're in a better position to say. 

I will guarantee you, that's a dismal number. That you can see exactly what they're going through, and then you'd be in a better position to be able to say, hey, craft a bill. And I would almost guarantee you, almost none of them, you might have one, that has ever did a ride along in the back of a car two, three, four hours [inaudible]. 

Have an understanding, you'd be in a better position to support the mayor and support the city— if that's your intention— and if it's not your intention, you craft the bill, you don't speak to anybody, you don't get any background advice and subsequently, here we are. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, you've been, of course, today very vocal about being against what's in this bill. And Council Speaker Adams has said, she said again yesterday, her intention is to override a veto if you veto what you're doing. 

If she's able to do that, to override your veto, do you intend to say publicly, look, this is the law now and we've got to follow it. I mean and also, you know, if it is overridden, is there anything, is there a mechanism in place to enforce it if it's not complied with, if police aren't logging the information that's required under what they're proposing? 

Mayor Adams: Listen, we have made it clear: this administration follows the law. If a law is passed, we're going to tell our police officers, we're going to tell everyone that's in contact with any law that's passed that we follow the law. And we're going to let everyone know this is the law of the land, and people must make that decision on how they are going to just view the actions that were taken. 

What I must do at this point— and I've said this before, and I'm going to continue to say it— my role as the mayor is to make sure that I'm very clear with the public, let them understand what is happening, and take my actions. 

My action is the veto. Those council persons will now take the actions, either they can look and say, wait a minute, let's look at what the mayor is saying. Let's look at what all these community leaders are saying. 

And should we go and amend this? Should we look at how we modify to get what we want? It's up to them to do that. And I'm hoping that this period of educating, the videos we put out, of speaking with our council persons, having local people come and talk to them. 

I'm hoping people say, wait a minute, how do we get what we want without endangering the public safety aspect of it? But I am going to stand by and carry out, unless there's a legal reason that we don't have to carry it out. We saw some bills that were passed that we thought legally, it challenges the law. But other than that, we're going to comply with the law of this city. 

Question: Hi, so as you know, that you are vetoing the bills and they are passing the bills and it's not the first time the NYPD become the center of the controversy, many times [inaudible] because the politicians. They're part of this society, they're our brother and sister, and they are working for the community. 

But the way, you know, the politicians that [inaudible] them, the controversy becomes day by day, it's you know, it's very controversial now, the department. 

Being a chief executive, are you going to take any initiative to see what is, what they want, what you want, and you can come to the conclusion and have a negotiation? 

Mayor Adams: Well, you know, policing is a very emotional topic for many people. The job of policing is extremely challenging. And when you're responding to these emergencies...  

You know, the role of policing, you know, when I looked at that video the other day of those officers going to a routine call of duty and then all of a sudden they're on the ground wrestling with the person who was trying to take the officer's gun. 

That's why I think what Deputy Mayor Banks has said is so important. I think a prerequisite for anyone that takes office and deal with these important decisions should do a ride along, should see the role of policing, and then the operationalize some of the concepts and ideas that we have. 

And so it's always been mistakes that law enforcement has made in the past, created this lack of trust. We want to rebuild that trust, and one way to harm that trust is to go through a period of series of questioning people or, you know, guessing their ethnicity. 

You know, someone can look at you and think you're Hispanic, they can think you're Muslim. You start guessing. I've never seen any documentation that involves guessing information like that. 

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