Senate Bill S4045

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S4045

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to
fingerprinting persons arrested for or charged with violations of
certain local laws governing food and general vending


 PURPOSE :

To provide for the fingerprinting of persons arrested for or charged
with violations of local laws governing food and general vending.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

This proposal would amend subdivision 1 of section 160.10 of the
Criminal Procedure Law ("C.P.L.") to authorize police officers and
other appropriate officials to take the fingerprints of individuals
arrested for or charged with a violation of sections 17-307,
17-315,20-453 or 20-465 of the Administrative Code of the City of New
York.

 EXISTING LAW :

Section 160.10 of the Criminal Procedure Law
              

 JUSTIFICATION :

In New York City - particularly in certain neighborhoods, unlicensed
food and general vendors overwhelm the streets and sidewalks, causing
both pedestrian and vehicular traffic congestion. These vendors
unfairly compete with local merchants, as well as with properly
licensed vendors, all of whom are adversely affected by their
presence. Despite the size of the problem, however; police,
prosecutors and the courts are unable to manage the problem without
the authority to fingerprint. Courts have held that fingerprints may
only be taken with explicit statutory authority (see, g, People v.
O'Rourke, 83 Misc.2d 51 (N.Y. City Criminal Court 1975)).

This lack of authority to fingerprint those who violate the vending
laws has been particularly troublesome in several ways: for example,
it has been the experience of the New York City Police Department that
many illegal vendors repeatedly break the law, rarely appear before
the court when released on desk appearance tickets, and frequently
present false identification when arrested. In those cases in which
they do make an appearance, the court has no way of knowing the number
of times such vendors may have been charged with the same offense in
the past, and might only impose a nominal fine.

The problem is slightly different with respect to licensed vendors who
disobey time, place and manner restrictions: they are definitively
identified but they pay the nominal fine that may be imposed as a
sentence and they consider it a cost of doing business. They then
return to the same illegal location or erect the same illegal vending
display. For licensed and unlicensed vendors, the City's alternative
remedy is to issue a notice of violation, a civil enforcement process
involving a summons returnable to the Environmental Control Board,
which can result in the imposition of substantial civil penalties.
Even in this forum, unlicensed violators rarely appear and are
frequently judgment proof. Licensed violators, too, may avoid the
penalties arising from adjudication in view of the difficulty of
collecting fines and recovering suspended or revoked licenses until
expiration.


It is important to note that this bill should not be construed to
apply beyond street vending.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New Bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

To be determined.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Ninety days after it shall have become a law.