Lawmakers OK NYPD watchdog, overriding vetoes
New York police have been given two layers of oversight in two weeks that are intended to balance the force’s culture of aggressive crime prevention tactics with the civil liberties of the New Yorkers they’ve sworn to protect.
Propelled by concern about the NYPD’s use of its stop and frisk tactic and its extensive surveillance of Muslims, the City Council overrode mayoral vetoes Thursday to create a watchdog for the police department and make it easier for people to file profiling lawsuits against it.
The measures mark the most aggressive legislative effort in years to put new checks on the police department, and the vote came less than two weeks after a federal judge imposed new oversight of her own.