Not so fast, City Council.
Mayor de Blasio expressed strong reservations Wednesday about a council plan to decriminalize common low-level offenses, such as public urination and turnstile-jumping.
While Hizzoner said he’s open to looking at the idea floated in February by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, he made it clear he’s on the same page as Police Commissioner Bill Bratton when it comes to tackling violations that impact a neighborhood’s character.
“I think the council’s proposals are certainly worthy of discussion, but I want to emphasize my vision of quality-of-life policing and my vision related to the ‘Broken Windows’ strategy is the same as Commissioner Bratton’s — we’re very much unified on this point,” de Blasio said at an unrelated press conference in The Bronx.
“The fundamental notion that we have to address quality-of-life crimes head-on is one I believe in,” he added.
Bratton was one of the first proponents of “Broken Windows” policing, which stems from the belief that targeting low-level offenses creates a sense of order that helps staunch more serious crimes.
Currently, the NYPD has discretion when it comes to deciding whether to arrest low-level violators or issue them summonses.
Last year, cops issued 67,587 summonses for turnstile-jumping, made 20,606 arrests, and gave out 5,438 desk appearance tickets — suggesting they often use that discretion.
Police officials said they’re concerned about a consideration to turn criminal summonses into civil ones — in part because such a move would make it harder for cops to require law-breakers to identify themselves.
“The Police Department is concerned about the potential impact on quality-of-life enforcement if the council enacts measures to remove criminal sanctions from certain offenses,” said Deputy Chief Kim Royster an NYPD spokeswoman.
The council said it’s been talking with the mayor’s office and the NYPD about the initiative in the face of large numbers of summonses disproportionately targeting young men of color.
Violators who can’t make bail might sit in jail for days or weeks for minor transgressions — such as disobeying park signs, public drinking, or hanging out in parks after dark.
Additionally, hundreds of thousands of warrants have been issued for people who for various reasons failed to show up on their court dates.
While the council has the power to adjust the administrative rules governing punishment for many of the low-level violations, its options are more limited for fare-beating — which is governed by state law.
Fare-beating was one of the first quality-of-life violations aggressively targeted by Bratton in the early 1990s when he was served as head of the city’s transit police.