For 3 hours on Monday, the NYPD’s prime lawyer and police brass dueled members of the Metropolis Council over payments to get rid of a gang database and bar DNA checks of teenagers with out parental consent.
Neither facet appeared to budge.
Michael Gerber, the deputy commissioner for authorized issues, and police brass labored to persuade the Council’s Public Security Committee of the need for the database, arguing it’s now smaller with extra controls in place.
Gerber stated there have been greater than 18,000 names within the database in 2019. Now there are about 13,000 — a 27% decline. The variety of teenagers within the database in 2019 totaled 440 whereas there are actually simply 160, he stated.
“It would be a terrible mistake to take this important public safety tool away from the department,” he stated.
rikers
Barry Williams for New York Day by day Information
FILE – New York Metropolis Council member Antonio Reynoso (far proper) speaks at a rally asserting a invoice to get rid of the NYPD’s gang database, Sept. 15, 2021. (Barry Williams for New York Day by day Information)
He cautioned if the database is eradicated, folks will nonetheless be recognized as linked to gangs, however it’ll occur “informally” with out controls in place.
The Council backers of the invoice and critics famous the database is made up virtually completely of Black and Hispanic New Yorkers and names keep within the database far longer than they need to.
“Today’s legislation is a small step the NYPD can take in righting the wrongs of many years rather than oppressing communities,” stated Council Member Althea Stevens (D-Bronx), a sponsor of the invoice.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams (left) throughout the New York Metropolis Council’s Committee of Public Security listening to on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at Metropolis Corridor. (Emil Cohen / NYC Council Media Unit)
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams stated the database was “not the best use of police resources.” The implication of being added to the database, he stated, “is almost impossible to refute.”
Stevens instructed the database amounted to racial profiling.
“It is not racial profiling; that is very unfair,” Gerber replied, as somebody within the viewers laughed loudly. “The data I gave was about individuals arrested for shootings and shooting victims. There is nothing racial profiling about that.”
“I want the number on what percentage of shootings this has stopped,” Stevens countered with Gerber replying it might be tough to provide you with such a quantity.
Joann Ariola, a Republican Council member, known as the gang database invoice “Insanity that would cause chaos in this city.”
The New York Metropolis Council’s Committee of Public Security holds a listening to concerning abolishing the Prison Group Database, often known as the ‘gang database,’ and accumulating DNA samples from minors on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at Metropolis Corridor. (Emil Cohen / NYC Council Media Unit)
The DNA invoice would bar the division from accumulating the DNA of youngsters with out consent from a mother or father, guardian or lawyer. The division has been criticized for utilizing surreptitious means to gather DNA, like grabbing a soda can utilized by a suspect after questioning.
Gerber stated the division doesn’t object to the invoice, besides that he requested for an exception for severe violent felonies provided that accredited by the chief of detectives.
“It’s so rare that we collect these samples from juveniles and it’s only from tremendously serious crimes,” stated Assistant Chief Jason Savino.
However Council Member Tiffany Caban stated she opposed the exception.
“Their Constitutional rights should be protected. They are not of the right mindset to give consent,” she stated.
