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 exams of teenagers with out parental consent.
Neither aspect 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 mentioned 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 at the moment are simply 160, he mentioned.
“It would be a terrible mistake to take this important public safety tool away from the department,” he mentioned.
Activists collect for a G.A.N.G.S. Coalition rally on the steps of Metropolis Corridor in Manhattan, calling for the elimination of the NYPD’s ‘gang database’ Monday, Feb. 24, 2025 in New York Metropolis. (Barry Williams / New York Each day Information)
He cautioned if the database is eradicated, folks will nonetheless be recognized as linked to gangs, however it’s going to occur “informally” with out controls in place.
The Council backers of the invoice and critics famous the database is made up virtually solely 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,” mentioned 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 mentioned the database was “not the best use of police resources.” The implication of being added to the database, he mentioned, “is almost impossible to refute.”
Stevens instructed the database amounted to racial profiling.
Gerber acknowledged that 99% of individuals within the database are of shade, however added, between 2019 and 2024 96% of individuals arrested for taking pictures and 96% of victims had been additionally folks of shade.
“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 troublesome 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 relating to abolishing the Felony 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 guardian, 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 mentioned the division doesn’t object to the invoice, besides that he requested for an exception for severe violent felonies provided that authorised by the chief of detectives.
“It’s so rare that we collect these samples from juveniles and it’s only from tremendously serious crimes,” mentioned Assistant Chief Jason Savino.
Activists collect for a G.A.N.G.S. Coalition rally on the steps of Metropolis Corridor in Manhattan, calling for the elimination of the NYPD’s ‘gang database’ Monday, Feb. 24, 2025 in New York Metropolis. (Barry Williams / New York Each day Information)
However Council Member Tiffany Caban mentioned she opposed the exception.
“Their Constitutional rights should be protected. They are not of the right mindset to give consent,” she mentioned.
Initially Printed: February 24, 2025 at 3:57 PM EST
