The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) slapped the city with a lawsuit on Tuesday to challenge the profiling measure of the Community Safety Act.
The organization charges that the City Council overstepped its boundaries by passing Local Law 71, which allows individuals to more easily sue the city over discrimination, such as with some stop-and-frisk encounters. Racial profiling protection is preempted by New York State Criminal Procedure Law, the lawsuit said, and cannot be changed by local governing bodies.
“The language of so-called ‘biased policing law’ is unconstitutionally vague and will only serve to confuse police officers regarding its racial profiling provisions while hampering their ability to enforce the existing state laws that keep our city safe,” PBA president Patrick Lynch said.
The City Council passed the Community Safety Act on August 22, following a successful override vote of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto. The legislation includes two laws aimed at shifting management and policies in the NYPD.
One of the laws will create an inspector general position to oversee the activities of the police department, while Local Law 71 will expand biased-based protection from ethnicity, religion and national origin to age, gender, sexual orientation and other categories.
The mayor’s office is also suing the city over the profiling legislation for attempting to alter State Criminal Procedure Law.
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