January 30, 2024 (New York, NY) — Asian Wave Alliance is outraged by NYC Council’s override of Mayor Adams’ veto of Bill Intro. 586 “How Many Stops Act.” Sponsored by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, this bill mandates police officers to document Level 1 interactions including all interactions with bystanders to a crime and then filling out an 11-question survey on each encounter to document the person’s race, gender and age. While AWA supports police accountability and transparency, we believe this newly imposed onerous and redundant bureaucratic burden will make all New Yorkers less safe and would divert valuable police resources needed to respond to criminal activities and solving crimes.
The Asian community has been distraught since we learned about this bill. Over the past four years, New Yorkers have been faced with surging crime rates across the city and our community has not been spared. Council members representing Asian districts know that public safety is our number one concern. Today’s vote by council members who have a high number of Asian constituents including Justin Brannan, James Gennaro, Linda Lee, Christopher Marte, Lynn Schulman, and Sandra Ung is extremely disappointing.
We thank the nine members of the Common Sense Caucus, Joann Ariola, Joseph Borelli, David Carr, Robert Holden, Kalman Yeger, Kristy Marmaroto, Vickie Paladino, Inna Vernikov, and Susan Zhuang who have carefully listened to their constituents and taking into consideration the broader impact this will have on public safety and voted to uphold the Mayor’s veto of Int. 586.
It is in times like this that we see the importance of who we elect to serve us. The Asian community must continue to participate and engage in our political process, to understand the importance of legislators we put into power to make laws - good ones and dangerous ones like Int. 586.
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