Forcing cops to give receipts to people they stop but do not arrest will “invite retaliatory complaints” against officers, the head of New York City’s largest police union charged Tuesday.
Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said the listing of the Civilian Complaint Review Board’s information on the receipts is a measure “clearly designed” to lead to more complaints.
“They are just one more item on the ever-growing list of anti-public-safety measures that will put an end to proactive policing in this city and ultimately accelerate the increase in crime and disorder that we are already seeing in our public spaces,” Lynch said.
Under the requirement, scheduled to take effect Sept. 21, cops will have to fill out a receipt explaining why the stop was made if the person isn’t arrested.
Lynch says the receipts are onerous for cops.
“It is time for our policymakers to stop heaping new burdens on police officers and to figure out how unwind the damaging measures that are already in place before the erosion in public safety does serious damage to NYC’s economic health,” Lynch said.
The idea for the receipts follows a court-appointed monitor’s recommended reforms to the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy.
They include barring stops based on racial profiling and requiring cops to have reasonable suspicion before using stop-and-frisk, prohibiting them from using general descriptions, such as “furtive movements,” as they had in the past.
Story originated here: NYPD receipts for nonarrests are ‘clearly designed’ to spur complaints against cops: PBA head