To cheers from the audience, the New York City Council voted
to institute tough new rules regulating the city’s police department.
“The Committee of the Whole recommends passing both bills,
the objection of the Mayor notwithstanding.”
The votes override a veto by Mayor Michael Bloomberg from
earlier this summer. The new rules put oversight measures in place, like adding
an inspector general position and streamlining community claims of
discrimination by the department. The votes come about two weeks after a
federal judge ruled the NYPD’s stop and frisk policies violated civil rights.
Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn said the new inspector
general will ensure stop and frisk comes to an end…
“But as importantly, we'll help make sure that no other
police practices in the future ever get to the point where a federal judge has
to intervene and tell us that our police department has been acting
unconstitutionally.”
Mayor Boomberg has said the stop and frisk ruling and the
oversight legislation undermine public safety. Last Friday, the city appealed
the federal ruling.