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Mayor Adams tells NYPD recruits Council members want them to do

‘paperwork’ instead of ‘patrolling,’ draws pushback

Mayor Eric Adams speaks during New York City’s Police Academy graduation at Madison Square Garden Friday, Dec. 29, 2023, in Manhattan, New York. (Barry
Williams for New York Daily News)

By Chris Sommerfeldt | csommerfeldt@nydailynews.com | New York Daily News

PUBLISHED: December 29, 2023 at 1:44 p.m. | UPDATED: December 29, 2023 at 5:37 p.m.

Mayor Adams told a class of NYPD recruits Friday that City Council members want cops to prioritize
“paperwork” over “patrolling” — a thinly-veiled dig at a bill recently passed by the chamber that’d
place new transparency requirements on the Police Department.

“Council members believe you should not have the empowerment you need,” Adams told hundreds of
incoming NYPD officers during a Police Academy graduation ceremony at Madison Square Garden .

“Instead of patrolling, they want you to do paperwork.”

The mayor’s broadside referenced the “How Many Stops Act,” a bill adopted by the Council this month
that’d require NYPD officers to document all encounters they have with civilians that are investigative
in nature. Under current regulations officers only need to log information into a department database
,

about so-called Level 3 stops, where there’s reasonable suspicion of a crime in progress.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams speaks at the ‘How Many Stops Act’ rally outside of City Hall before a New York City Council
meeting at City Hall in Manhattan, New York on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)

Council members and city Public Advocate Jumaane Williams who authored the bill, have argued the
,

new reporting requirements would prevent biased policing and add needed transparency to the
NYPD at a time when its federal monitor says unconstitutional police stops of Black and Brown New
Yorkers are still common. Williams has also said that logging information about Level 1 and Level 2
stops, the first of which can be conducted without a suspicion of a crime, should take cops no more
than “literally 10-20 seconds” via a smartphone app.

But Adams and NYPD leaders say it would take cops much longer to compile reports on Level 1 and
Level 2 stops.

They’ve maintained the additional reporting requirements would thereby jeopardize public safety as
it would distract cops from doing actual policing.

Mayor Eric Adams speaks during New York City’s Police Academy graduation at Madison Square Garden Friday, Dec. 29, 2023, in
Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)

The mayor — who has not ruled out vetoing the bill — drew pushback for his graduation speech from a
spokesman for Council Speaker Adrienne Adams who said his remarks were factually dubious.

“It’soften said that those most afraid of transparency have something to hide. It begs the question
what Mayor Adams’ administration wants to hide from its increasing number of police stops of
primarily Black and Latino New Yorkers,” the spokesman, Rendy Desamours, said. “If a police stop
intrudes into a New Yorkers’ day, basic reporting on it is the least that should be done to ensure
transparency and trust towards improving public safety. Those seeking to exaggerate what the [How
Many Stops Act] requires are unnecessarily misleading police officers and the public.”

New officers take the oath of office during New York City’s Police Academy graduation at Madison Square Garden Friday, Dec. 29,
2023, in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)

Brooklyn Councilman Justin Brannan, a Democrat who chairs the Council’s Finance Committee,
echoed Desamours’ sentiment.

“We don’t believe this at all, actually,” Brannan wrote on X in response to the mayor’s graduation
ceremony remarks. “What a reckless thing to say.”

IfAdams vetoes the bill, the Council could force it into law by overriding him as long as such a move is

supported by two-thirds of the chamber’s members. The bill passed with support from 35 of the
Council’s Democrats — just above the 34-veto override threshold.

City Council Member Justin Brannan is pictured in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn on Monday, February 20, 2023. (Gardiner Anderson for
New York Daily News)

Also in his graduation speech, Adams criticized the “numerical minority,” a phrase he’s previously used
to describe progressive Democrats.

“You’re going to have a small numerical minority that no matter what happens, they’re going to
complain about everything you do,” he told the officers.

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2023 December 29

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