A federal judge on Wednesday gave the de Blasio administration the green light to move ahead with overhauling how the NYPD executes stop-and-frisk tactics, rejecting a bid by five city police unions to continue fighting implementation of the controversial plan.
In her 108-page ruling, Manhattan federal Judge Analisa Torres rejected motions to intervene in the longstanding litigation by the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, Detectives Endowment Association, Lieutenants Benevolent Association, Sergeants Benevolent Association and Captains’ Endowment Association.
She said the motions were “untimely” and that the unions’ memberships have no legal standing or “significant protectable interests relating to the subject of the litigation that would warrant intervention.”
Although Torres said the police unions could participate in the process to reform the stop-and-frisk program, union honchos vowed to appeal.
Mayor de Blasio called Torres’ support of an anticipated settlement deal he’s reached with plaintiffs in the six-year-old case “a major step in our efforts to repair police-community relations.”
The ruling also calls for three years of NYPD oversight by a court-appointed monitor, which de Blasio recommended in January while announcing plans to drop the city’s appeal of Judge Shira Scheindlin’s August 2013 ruling that found the department’s stop-and-frisk practices unconstitutional.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals sided with de Blasio in February by agreeing to move the controversial case back to Torres, so a settlement could be fast-tracked.
Torres had been assigned the case in November after the same panel booted Scheindlin off it while also questioning her impartiality.
Scheindlin had ruled that stop-and-frisk illegally targeted minorities, and ordered sweeping reforms, including appointment of an outside monitor to rein in the controversial crime-fighting tactic.
City police unions had hoped Torres would allow them to intervene and challenge Scheindlin’s ruling. Union officials said they now plan to go back to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and ask the panel to overturn Torres’ ruling.
“We disagree with the outcome in the district court inasmuch as it is clear that prior rulings and the proposed settlement of the case will substantially impact NYC police officers,” PBA president Patrick Lynch said in a statement. “It is unfair and inconceivable that employees would not be allowed in this process.”
Darius Charney, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the ruling “sets us on the road to beginning a joint reform process that fully engages the community and will bring true accountability to the NYPD.”
The new mayor’s desire to settle the case has been criticized as another step toward gutting the work of his predecessor, Mike Bloomberg, who appealed Scheindlin’s ruling just before leaving office.