Mayor Eric Adams' stance on How Many Stops Act may be about 2025 re-election, political experts say
NEW YORK -- With the City Council set to vote Tuesday to override Mayor Eric Adams' veto of a controversial police reporting bill, supporters of the legislation took to the streets Monday in a leafletting campaign to convince New Yorkers they're right and he's wrong.
It's the showdown at the O.K. Corral. The mayor is trying to fend off the very real possibility that the City Council will override his veto and succeed.
However, political experts say it may be more about his re-election campaign and less about whether he loses Tuesday.
"There's been a misinformation campaign by the administration," Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said.
READ MORE: New York City Council will meet to override mayor's veto of How Many Stops Act
Williams was on the streets of Brooklyn to lobby for his "How Many Stops" bill, which requires police officers to document every interaction with New Yorkers, including low-level stops police classify as non-criminal encounters. It's to make sure that minorities are not unfairly targeted.
This as the City Council prepares to vote to override the mayor's veto.
READ MORE: Supporters rally to overturn Mayor Adams' veto of How Many Stops Act
Adams says forcing cops to document low-level stops is a time waster, one that will compromise public safety by making officers do paperwork instead of fighting crime.
"Unfortunately, the administration and the mayor have been putting out the hardest way to collect this information in order to present fear and confusion," Williams said.
Williams and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams argue that cops don't have to do paperwork. They can can file reports on their smartphones in minutes.
"NYPD is the most technologically savvy police department on the planet. Our advice is to go buy smartphones. We're talking about regularly issued smartphones that our officers use anyway. Dropdown boxes, click here," Adrienne Adams said.
The mayor has mounted an intense arm-twisting campaign to prevent an override, taking council members on NYPD ride-alongs to show that not every stop should be reported.
Stops like, "If a person has a lost parent, who's dealing with Alzheimer's or dementia, every one that the officer asks 'Did they see the person?' they will have to document that, " Eric Adams said.
Councilwoman Gale Brewer took part in a ride-along.
"I didn't change my stance, but I learned a lot," Brewer said. "The issue is Level 1 and I don't know that everybody has the same definition."
She witnessed the Level 1 stops -- considered to be non-criminal encounters -- as police asked around 30 people questions in a search for a shooter.
Brewer agrees with Adrienne Adams, saying instead of having 30 pieces of paper, including each person's age, race, gender, what lead to the encounter, whether force was used and did it lead to other stops, the NYPD needs to invest in technology.
More than 130 clergy leaders with the group Faith in New York support the bill.
"These Level 1 stops are often escalated and if there's not paperwork to back up why the initial stop was made, a lot of these things can't be investigated," said Pastor Zac Martin of Next Step Community Church.
"This is definitely something that needs to be reconsidered and true justice should come out of this," added the Rev. Franklin A. Wilson Jr., of St. Albans Congregational Church added.
The council passed the bill with a veto-proof majority of 35. Political experts say that with the council speaker all in, it will be difficult for the mayor to prevail.
"Speaker Adams has been very clear. When it comes to controlling the council, she'll do whatever she has to do, including removing chairmen," pundit Hank Sheinkopf said.
When asked make this battle now when it just makes you look weaker, Sheinkopf said, "This is about the battle to protect his constituency, the people that love him and trust him and believe that he cares about them."
The translation is that this is about his desire to get re-elected in 2025, to cast himself as a moderate against the progressives, and to appeal to the moderate outer borough residents who elected him last time.
