Lindsey Smith (’18), Special Litigation Staff Attorney at The Legal Aid Society, contributed an opinion to the Queens Daily Eagle supporting the How Many Stops Act, which the City Council passed but was recently vetoed by Mayor Adams. The legislation would require NYPD recording of low-level encounters (“Police Stops in NYC Are at Their Highest Level Since 2015. The NYPD Doesn’t Want Us to Know Just How High,” Dec. 19). “[C]urrent trends indicate that illegal and racially discriminatory stops are once again on the rise under the Adams administration. But we can’t fix it until we know what’s really happening, via the enhanced reporting requirements of the How Many Stops Act. . . . [T]he NYPD continues to question whether more transparency is needed around the rising number of police encounters. But the real question is: Why is the NYPD fighting so hard for secrecy?”
