State legislators have committed to passing several bills aimed at police misconduct, including a criminal ban on police use of chokeholds.
Inspired by the protests sweeping the state and nation, New York legislative leaders on Monday vowed to approve an expansive package of bills targeting police misconduct, defying longstanding opposition from law enforcement groups, including police unions.
The measures range from a ban on the use of chokeholds to the repeal of an obscure decades-old statute that has effectively hidden the disciplinary records of police officers from public view, making it virtually impossible for victims to know whether a particular officer has a history of abuse.
The legislation would mark one of the most substantial policy changes to result from the nearly two weeks of national unrest that followed George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, including in New York City, where tens of thousands of protesters participated in mostly peaceful marches to demand more police accountability.
The proposals signify a turning-point in Albany. Many of the policy changes being voted on this week languished for years because of opposition from influential police and corrections unions that contribute generously to the campaigns of elected officials — a tactic that had great effect in the State Senate, which has traditionally been under Republican control.
But Democrats assumed control of the full Legislature last year for the first time in nearly a decade, clearing the way for lawmakers to begin voting on the law enforcement bills on Monday. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, said on Monday he supported the bills and intended to sign them into law.
The pressure on elected officials to enact police reforms has reverberated across the nation.
Officials in Minneapolis moved to ban chokeholds and pledged to disband its police department. In Congress, Democrats plan to unveil expansive legislation this week to combat racial bias and excessive use of force by law enforcement. On Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed for the first time to cut funding for the New York Police Department.
Protests in New York, some of which led to instances of looting and violent clashes with the police, sparked a groundswell of support that seemed unlikely just a few weeks ago, placing unavoidable pressure on state and city lawmakers who were already consumed with the deadly coronavirus outbreak and its effect on the state’s finances and the city’s budget.
The bid to increase the scrutiny of law enforcement was not new; in 2014, numerous protests erupted in the aftermath of Eric Garner’s death on Staten Island after a police officer held him in a chokehold.
The New York City Council soon introduced a bill to criminalize chokeholds by the police; the measure gained momentum after a Staten Island grand jury refused to approve criminal charges against the officers involved in Mr. Garner’s death.
But in December 2014, as anger against the police heightened, two police officers were assassinated in an attack that many officers thought had been inspired by anti-police rhetoric after Mr. Garner’s death. Mayor de Blasio, in danger of losing the support of the rank-and-file police and their unions, threatened to veto the legislation.
The bill, which has languished since, now has enough support to overcome a mayoral veto, and will come to a vote on June 18.
