The City Council overrode Mayor Bloomberg's vetoes this afternoon, affirming the passage of two laws that would strengthen existing profiling bans, allow citizens to meaningfully challenge discriminatory police practices, and install an Inspector General to broadly review NYPD policy and make recommendations. Mayor Bloomberg has already announced he will sue to block the implementation of the profiling law.
"Today’s vote is an example of election year politics at its very worst and political pandering at its most deadly," Bloomberg said in a statement. "Intro. 1080 is not aimed at stopping racial profiling, which is already against the law. It is aimed at winning votes. It is a dangerous piece of legislation and we will ask the courts to step in before innocent people are harmed.”
Intro 1080, the profiling bill, narrowly passed 34-15. Intro 1079, which creates an Inspector General for the NYPD, passed 39-10. As expected, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn voted to override the veto for the IG, but not the profiling bill. Two of the Community Safety Act's opponents, Councilmembers Peter F. Vallone, Jr., and the embattled Dan Halloran, were not present to vote. Vallone tweeted that he was helping his daughters move in to their college dorms.
“Today, the City Council listened to the voices of reason and passed legally sound and responsible legislation that respects the 4th and 14th Amendment Rights of city residents, while providing the necessary oversight to establish better policing practices," the Community Safety Act's co-sponsors, Councilmembers Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams said in a joint statement.
“We’d like to thank Speaker Christine Quinn, our City Council colleagues, and most of all to the diverse coalition of New Yorkers who worked tirelessly to pass the Community Safety Act. We look forward to continuing working for a safer and more equitable and just New York for all.”
