The NYPD has come forward to defend a recent action of one of its officers. There was an initial backlash against the officer, thanks to a City Council member. Councilman Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five, accused the officer of stopping him in traffic for no tenable reason.
However, after releasing bodycam footage of the encounter, the NYPD made it clear that the stop was “legal and professional.”
City Council member Yusef soon made a statement about the in-traffic encounter with a police officer. In response, the NYPD, in a public statement, released a copy of the report generated after the encounter and the officer’s bodycam footage.
Salaam’s police stop happened on Friday evening, and he released a statement about the encounter the following day. His statement reads, “Last night, while driving with my wife and children and listening in to a call with my Council colleagues on speakerphone, I was pulled over by an NYPD officer in my beloved Village of Harlem within the 28th Precinct. I introduced myself as Councilman Yusef Salaam and subsequently asked the officer why I was pulled over. Instead of answering my question, the officer stated, ‘We’re done here,’ and proceeded to walk away.”
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In the statement, Councilman Salaam suggests that his encounter with NYPD reflects the experiences of average New Yorkers. Salaam thinks it is unethical to profile a vehicle in traffic, stop it, and not provide a reason for doing so. He also feels a lack of proper documentation or an instance of probable cause will leave a wide gap for officers to profile New Yorkers racially and to conduct unconstitutional stops.
The New York City Council recently proposed a “How Many Stops Act,” which requires police officers to document all proper stops they make while patrolling.
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This encounter comes just a few days after New York City Mayor Eric Adams veto of the “How Many Stops Act.” Mayor Adams, a former police chief himself, suggests that the bill will leave police officers doing paperwork a lot of times. In effect, police response time will flag, and the NYPD budget will take on millions of dollars in overtime.
So, Adams suggests that the City Council should shelve the bill and allow NYPD to use their discretion regarding how often they make traffic stops during patrols.
The NYPD public statement about the Salaam traffic encounter is more like an effort to dismiss the need for explicit documentation for every stop. According to the statement, NYPD does document their traffic stops. Besides, the officer involved in the Salaam stop comported himself professionally, introduced himself, and was of courteous conduct.
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The only fault of the officer that Salaam can capitalize on is the abrupt end of the stop after realizing a councilman was driving the vehicle. However, the statement clarifies that the officer only exercised his discretion to allow the councilman to proceed with his official duties.
After vetoing the NYPD bill sponsored by the City Council, Mayor Adams suggested that council members go for a ride along with officers. Salaam had shown interest in this initiative but has canceled all such plans after his Friday evening police stop.
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