Mayor Bloomberg urges Council to reject NYPD oversight
AP TOM HAYS
NEW YORK -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg and top law enforcement officials Monday urged the City Council to vote down proposed legislation creating an outside watchdog for the New York Police Department, saying it would threaten public safety by inhibiting policing.
Council members are nearing a vote on a bill that would create an inspector general to monitor the NYPD's policies and procedures, including its widespread use of the practice known as stop and frisk and its surveillance of Muslims. A second bill would make it easier for people to sue the department over street stops they felt reflected racial profiling.
Bloomberg warned that the measures would reverse a historic drop in crime during his three terms in office. Reports of homicides and other serious offenses have fallen 34 percent since 2001, with the greatest reductions in low-income communities.
"New Yorkers must have policing that respects everyone's rights, including everyone's right to be safe on the streets," Bloomberg said at a news conference at police headquarters. "What we must not have is what these laws would create: A police department pointlessly hampered by outside intrusion and recklessly threatened by second-guessing by the courts."
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