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Q&A
Council Member Cabán questions NYPD on traffic enforcement data and practices
1:42:05
·
4 min
Council Member Tiffany Cabán engages in a detailed Q&A session with NYPD representatives, focusing on traffic enforcement data and practices. She requests specific breakdowns of traffic-related summonses, arrests, and desk appearance tickets by race, as well as information on how specialized NYPD units engage in traffic enforcement.
- Cabán asks for data on criminal court summonses, desk appearance tickets, and arrests related to traffic infractions, VTL misdemeanors, and felonies, all broken down by race.
- She inquires about which NYPD units, beyond highway division and regular patrol, engage in traffic enforcement.
- Cabán requests statistics on vehicle stops conducted by specialized teams, including outcomes such as searches, arrests, and retrieval of illegal items.
Tiffany Cabán
1:42:05
Oh, thank you.
1:42:06
Alright.
1:42:09
I just wanna ask some data questions.
1:42:11
In the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four, the NYPD issued 21,501 criminal court summons.
1:42:17
Of these criminal court summonses, how many were for traffic infractions?
1:42:23
Quarter four.
Olufunmilola "Lola" Obe
1:42:26
Sorry, councilor, we don't have that.
1:42:27
I don't have that on So
Tiffany Cabán
1:42:29
what I would be asking for, and I'm assuming that you may not have the others then, from the fourth quarter, if you could report back to this committee how many traffic infractions there were, a breakdown of race.
1:42:41
How many were for VTL misdemeanors, a breakdown of those by race.
1:42:46
How many were for VTL felonies, a breakdown of those for race?
1:42:51
And yeah, can you get back to the council with that?
1:42:56
Absolutely.
Olufunmilola "Lola" Obe
1:42:57
Will do.
Tiffany Cabán
1:42:59
Thank you.
1:43:00
Do you have any data on the I'm assuming you don't have the same data as it refers to desk appearance tickets.
1:43:05
Is that correct?
1:43:06
Okay.
1:43:07
So we'd be asking for, in the fourth quarter, how many arrests were made for those traffic infractions, but how many received a desk appearance ticket and a breakdown of those by race.
1:43:17
How many were detained and arraigned in a criminal court?
1:43:20
Those broken down by race.
1:43:21
And the same for VTL misdemeanors, VTL felonies.
1:43:25
And then I also want to ask, apart from the highway division and regular patrol officers, which other commands, units, or teams engage in traffic enforcement?
1:43:35
Are are so, specifically, are neighborhood safety teams doing any traffic enforcement?
1:43:39
Are community response teams?
1:43:41
Are the the public safety teams, are they all expected to engage in traffic enforcement activity?
Josh Levin
1:43:49
Yes.
1:43:50
If there if you mean, as a police officer, if you see a violation being committed, right, you see something being committed.
1:43:56
So
Tiffany Cabán
1:43:58
So how does their use of VTL enforcement relate to the broader purpose and mandates of those specialized teams?
1:44:04
They have very specific purposes.
1:44:07
The NSTs, the CRTs, the PSTs, they're focusing on very specific initiatives, correct?
Josh Levin
1:44:17
I'm not a % sure what each individual purview is, but I know I do know that quality of life is involved.
Tiffany Cabán
1:44:23
But you do but you do acknowledge that these are specialty teams meant to target certain things?
1:44:32
And maybe colleagues can answer that.
Olufunmilola "Lola" Obe
1:44:38
I wouldn't go as far as saying that.
1:44:39
You said target certain things?
Tiffany Cabán
1:44:41
Well, so like for example, the neighborhood safety team, that is meant, the department says, to really hone in and tackle guns, correct?
Olufunmilola "Lola" Obe
1:44:55
Correct.
Tiffany Cabán
1:44:56
Okay.
1:44:57
And community response team, that's a specialized team.
1:45:00
Public safety team, that's a special they aren't part of traffic enforcement.
1:45:04
They aren't part of the broader department.
1:45:07
They're specialized, curated teams.
1:45:10
So my question was are they engaging in traffic enforcement?
1:45:14
And if they are, how does their use of VTL enforcement relate to their broader purposes and mandates of those specialized teams?
Josh Levin
1:45:23
So they're still on the radio.
1:45:25
So if they're in a neighborhood and something comes over about a robbery in progress and they're given a description of a car and they're given a description of the occupants who may be inside the car and they see that cargo zipping past them, they're going to investigate that to see if it's related at all.
Tiffany Cabán
1:45:40
Right.
1:45:41
And so as it relates to that, do you have statistics on twenty twenty four vehicle stops disaggregated by the special teams?
1:45:47
So for example, for each team, how many vehicle stops resulted in the search of the vehicle?
1:45:51
For each team, how many vehicle stops resulted in a misdemeanor arrest?
1:45:54
For each team, how many vehicle stops resulted in a felony arrest?
1:45:58
For each team, how many vehicle stops resulted in the retrieval of an illegal firearm?
1:46:02
For each team, how many vehicle stops resulted in the retrieval of illegal substances or drugs?
Josh Levin
1:46:07
We can certainly look into that and follow-up.
Tiffany Cabán
1:46:09
Okay.
1:46:09
So, yeah, my request is that that data be given to the chair of the committee.
1:46:14
Thank you.