In the Media

In 2013 Mayor Bill De Blasio was voted into office with pledges to reign in police violence and stop-and-frisk policing targeted at blacks and latinos.

Advocates and Council members rallied outside City Hall today to call for the passage of a pair of police reform bills that have languished for two years, despite support from more than half the body’s members.

The bills, known collectively as the Right to Know Act, would require police officers to identify themselves to people they stop and to inform people that they have a right to refuse a search if the officer does not have probable cause. The identification bill has 32 sponsors; the consent to search legislation has 28—enough to pass the 51-member body.

More than 200 people — including a fleet of politicians — rallied outside City Hall Thursday to demand that lawmakers pass new police reform bills.

The demonstrators called on the City Council to take action on a pair of measures known as the “Right to Know Act.”

The bills would require cops to formally identify themselves during stops — as well as get proof of consent when searching individuals without probable cause.

 Police departments would have to report more about arrests and the deaths of people in custody under legislation pending in the New York state Legislature.

Advocates for criminal justice reform and their legislative allies detailed the bill Tuesday.

The measure sponsored by Assemblyman Joseph Lentol and Sen. Daniel Squadron, both Democrats, would require police departments to follow a single, statewide process for reporting information about everyday arrests — as well as cases in which a person is killed while in custody.