Patrick Lynch, head of the largest NYPD union, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, called the new paperwork "another nail in the coffin of proactive policing" and predicted a rise in retaliatory complaints against cops."Instead of improving community relations, these receipts will accelerate an increase in crime and disorder, which will damage the city's economic health while hurting those crime-ridden communities who need our protection the most," Lynch said.
The "What Is A Stop?" slip will go to those stopped but not arrested. It requires officers to give their name and check one or more of six factors that led to the stop, such as a person being near a crime scene or matching a suspect's description.
The form also explains the legal authority officers have to conduct stops in the first place.
In addition, a Sept. 21 internal NYPD order underscores that two factors police were previously able to cite — a suspect making a furtive movement or being in a high crime area — are not cause enough for a stop.
And in the strongest acknowledgment that racial profiling is a problem, the order says people can't be stopped "because they are members of a racial or ethnic group that appears more frequently in local crime suspect data."
Comment: Whatever "form" the reform takes, de-escalating racial profiling has to be an improvement. 700K/year to 42K/year...along with accountability, that looks like an improvement.