A Manhattan judge today ordered the NYPD to hand over records of its enforcement and oversight of the horse-carriage industry within 45 days.
“Delay is injustice,” Judge Shlomo Hagler warned Police Department attorney Justin Choi.
The ruling comes four months after the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit claiming the police have not performed their legal obligations to protect the horses because they have no records of enforcement and other oversight.
“We’re now moving in the right direction,” fund attorney Christopher Wlach told reporters outside court.
“The next step of the game is, will the NYPD follow the court’s order and produce the documents?” Wlach said.
The NYPD claimed it had zero records relating to the industry from June 2009 through the present, saying enforcement was the primary responsibility of other city agencies like the Department of Health.
“There’s not one phone call saying a horse was being abused?” Hagler asked in disbelief.
The animal rights group called the NYPD’s claims that it is not involved in enforcement of the animals “disingenuous” because state and city laws require cops to monitor other aspects of the hansom cab business such as time restrictions on the carriages, checking driver’s licenses and assuring traffic laws are followed.
“I think the NYPD has a duty to go back and review its records,” the judge ordered.
Hagler noted that he was not giving his opinion about the hotly contested ban on the Central Park horse-carriages, merely ruling on a disclosure issue. “The public has a right to know about the health, safety and well being” of the horses, he ruled.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has called the hansom cabs “inhumane,” and vowed to replace them in Central Park with a fleet of replica antique electric cars.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg had been an enthusiastic supporter of the horse cabs, arguing that they are a tourist draw and a part of the city’s history.