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Q&A
Discussion on officer discretion in issuing summonses
1:00:02
·
93 sec
Council Member Cabán presses NYPD officials on the nature of officer discretion in issuing criminal summonses for cyclist violations. Deputy Commissioner Gerber explains the department's stance on discretion.
- NYPD officials confirm that officers have discretion in enforcement situations.
- Cabán repeatedly asks for specific factors officers consider when exercising discretion.
- Deputy Commissioner Gerber maintains that discretion cannot be reduced to a rigid list of factors and is instead a holistic assessment.
Tiffany Cabán
1:00:02
The policy where you can issue that criminal summons, is it a mandate, is the decision discretionary by the officer?
Michael Gerber
1:00:10
Officers in in any situation involving enforcement, I mean, officers are gonna have discretion.
Tiffany Cabán
1:00:15
Okay.
Michael Gerber
1:00:15
So Wait.
1:00:16
Hold on.
1:00:16
But to answer your question, right, we are giving them direction in terms of how we are looking to approach certain types of
Lisa Schreibersdorf
1:00:22
What
Tiffany Cabán
1:00:22
are the factors?
1:00:22
Because I'm running out of time, I just want to know.
1:00:24
List out the factors.
Michael Gerber
1:00:25
No.
1:00:25
No.
1:00:25
But that's not as as you all know, that is not how discretion works.
Tiffany Cabán
1:00:28
It it absolutely is.
Michael Gerber
1:00:29
No.
1:00:30
It is not it is not some rigid list.
1:00:32
That's not what discretion is at all.
Tiffany Cabán
1:00:33
Factors are not okay.
1:00:34
Hold on for a second.
1:00:35
Factors are not a rigid list.
1:00:37
Right?
1:00:37
When a policy is discretionary, there is usually some sort of information around, hey, officers, these are the things that you should look out for or consider when you are making the decision whether to do a thing.
1:00:52
I'm not I'm not asking for black and white hard and fast rules.
1:00:54
I'm asking you to list out what some of the factors that officers are encouraged to take into account when they're deciding to use their discretion.
Michael Gerber
1:01:00
And and my point to you is that discretion is not the exercise of discretion by our officers, which is critical, of course, is not particular to sea summonses for certain types of e bike infractions.
1:01:13
Right?
1:01:13
When we're talking about traffic infractions generally, when we're talking about violations, officers exercise discretion.
Tiffany Cabán
1:01:21
And what are they thinking about when they exercise that discretion?
1:01:24
What are the factors that they are thinking about when deciding how to to use their discretion.
Michael Gerber
1:01:30
Right.
1:01:31
And it's it does not reduce to some list.
1:01:33
It's a holistic it is a holistic assessment.