Following the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of police officers in Memphis, advocates and City Council members are calling on the NYPD to provide more transparency in their operations.
The reform advocates were joined by community organizations outside City Hall on Wednesday, demanding new legislation be passed that would force police to report more of their interactions with the public.
City Council members Crystal Hudson and Alexa Aviles are sponsoring the How Many Stops Act, with support from Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. The act would consist of two bills that they say would make communities safer.
"We cannot hold folks accountable, we cannot help our city with better policing and public safety if we don't know things like how many stops are actually happening," said Williams.
"We want to end the violence, we want to end the racial profiling, we want to end the murder and that's why the 'How Many Stops Act' is so important," added Center for Constitutional Rights Staff Attorney Samah Sisay.
The first bill would require police to report low-level police street stops and encounters, where they took place, the reason behind stopping the person, the demographic of the person stopped, and other information.
Samy Feliz says his 32-year-old brother Allan was killed in 2019 when he was shot by police during a traffic stop. He says he hopes this act will make for a safer city for all.
"In order to stop things from happening you have to be forward thinking and you have to take precedent of what's happening so that way you can avoid tragedies in the future," said Feliz.
The second part of the act would make it mandatory for the NYPD to report consent searches - when a police officer doesn’t need probable cause to search someone and the person gives permission.
News 12 reached out to the mayor’s office and the NYPD for statements on this new legislation proposal and are awaiting their response.