‘I am not one of your boys.’ Councilwoman Helen Foster (above) with Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. —during heated exchange (Robert Kalfus)
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The NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy came under fire yesterday during a heated City Council hearing as members pushed a package of bills that would drastically roll back the crime-fighting strategy.
A group of council members attacked the use of stop-and-frisk as racist and unsuccessful in getting guns off the streets — even as a top lawyer for the Bloomberg administration argued that the council was overstepping its legal authority in trying to dictate police policy.
The council is considering a package of four bills to limit stop-and-frisk, including one requiring cops to inform suspects that they don’t have to consent to a search — and if they do agree, cops would have to obtain written proof.
It wasn’t long before tempers flared at the hearing, when Councilman Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan) shouted at the administration’s lawyer, Michael Best.
“People are being subject to stop, question and frisk in a discriminatory manner. It needs to be totally revamped and it needs to be redone now,” Jackson said.
After the hearing’s chairman, Peter Vallone (D-Queens), instructed Jackson not to make speeches and to stay on topic, Councilwoman Helen Foster (D-Bronx) ripped into Vallone, saying he took plenty of time himself to defend the NYPD.
Vallone responded and Foster then shot back angrily, “Peter, I don’t work for you. I am not one of your boys. You will not talk to me like that.”
When Council Speaker Christine Quinn tried to mediate, Foster added that Vallone would have adopted a different attitude if he was black.
Best issued a blistering review of the council’s bills — known as the Community Safety Act — and warned that it “would create an explosion of litigation . . . It would allow people to sue who normally would never be allowed to sue.”
“These proposed bills are preempted by state law and would be invalid if enacted,” Best said.
“This series of bills . . . would create confusion and limit police officers’ ability to lawfully protect the public and themselves.”
The bills would also require cops to hand out cards with their name and rank anytime before a stop-and-frisk, set up an inspector general to monitor the NYPD, and require that the city pay legal fees and damages for successful challenges to a stop-and-frisk.
Quinn, who has not taken a position on the proposals, challenged Best’s argument because Mayor Bloomberg in 2004 signed into law an anti-racial-profiling bill, an issue she said is also governed by state statute.
“How could he have signed that and not sign this?” asked Quinn, a likely mayoral candidate, who has said she supports some reform to stop-and-frisk.
Vallone indicated that the only bill he might support is the creation of an inspector general for the NYPD. He said the others need major amendments before he would let them pass through his committee.