NY State Senate Bill 2017-S3433

Senate Bill S3433

2017-2018 Legislative Session

Requires the attorney general to prosecute New York city police officers charged with a criminal offense in violation of any of the laws of this state

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Local Government Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2018	referred to local government
Jan 23, 2017	referred to local government

co-Sponsors

2017-S3433 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Local Government
Law Section:: County Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §700, County L; amd §63, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2013-2014: S6140
2015-2016: S2526
2019-2020: S4550

2017-S3433 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires the attorney general to prosecute New York city police officers charged with a criminal offense in violation of any of the laws of this state.

2017-S3433 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S3433

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the county law and the executive law, in relation to
requiring the attorney general to prosecute New York city police
officers charged with a criminal offense in violation of any of the
laws of this state

 PURPOSE :

Provides for the State Attorney General to act as a special prosecutor
and prosecute crimes and offenses allegedly committed by polices
officers employed by a city having a population of one million or
more.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1: Amends the county law to provide for the prosecution by the
attorney general of crimes and offenses allegedly committed by police
officers employed by a city having a population of one million or
more.

Section 2: Amends the county law to create a new duty for every
district attorney to inform the attorney general of any crimes or
offenses allegedly committed by police officers employed by a city

having a population of one million or more, for further action
pursuant to subdivision ten-a of section sixty-three of the executive
law.

Section 3: Amends the executive law by creating a new subdivision
ten-a that creates a duty for the attorney general to prosecute police
officers employed by a city having a population of one million or more
charged with a criminal offense in violation of any of the laws of
this state.

Section 4: Provides that the act shall take effect on the first of
November next succeeding the date upon which it shall have become law.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Over the past twenty years, a number of high profile cases of alleged
official misconduct by officer of the New York Police Department
(NYPD) have resulted in requests or the appointment of special
prosecutors to investigate such misconduct. The list of the objects of
such misconduct include Abner Louima in 1997,* Reginald Bannerman in
1999,** Sean Bell in 2006,*** Jateik Reed in 2012,**** Kimani Gray in
2013, ***** and the subjects of the large numbers of cases annually
sent to New York City's civilian complaint review Board (CCRB) that
were deemed "unsubstantiated" based on an internal investigation at
the NYPD (see also the case of Detective Scarcella in 2013******).

In the case of the 2008 acquittal of the three NYPD officers charged
with misconduct in the shooting death of Sean Bell, a broad coalition
of civil rights advocates and public interest attorneys called for
change in the handling of police misconduct and brutality charges, and
called for the creation of a permanent state-level special prosecutor
to investigate such cases.******* Norman Siegel of the New York Civil
Liberties Union (NYCLU) and Senator Eric Adams (a former NYPD
Captain), in particular, called for the reinstatement of the
state-level special prosecutor's office that was abolished by
gubernatorial action in 1993, and originally created in the aftermath
of the Knapp Commission.

In its 2010 report entitled "Revisiting Who's Guarding the Guardians,"
the United States Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) found that the
states' "prosecution of police misconduct has been criticized as being
infrequent and ineffective, in part, because local prosecutors are
reluctant to prosecute the officers upon whom they must rely for the
investigation and prosecution of criminal cases."******** Citing the
work of Professor Louis Schwartz, the USCCR concluded:

"the District Attorney's office has not been, and, in the nature of
things, could not be, an effective instrument for controlling police
violence. Local prosecutors' offices face "a hopeless
conflict-of-interest" in handling police violence complaints because,
in most cases, the district attorney's office must investigate the
defendant's allegations of brutality against the police while
simultaneously investigating the police charges against the defendant.
(Furthermore), the "symbiotic relationship" that the police share with
local prosecutors "virtually guarantees that no local district
attorney-in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, or elsewhere-will pursue police
brutality prosecutions vigorously."  *********

The inescapable logic of the need for objective investigation into
police misconduct where it is alleged, and the corresponding value of
a truly objective special prosecutor's investigation for finding the
truth and confirming or vacating charges of police misconduct
necessitate the reinstatement of state-level special prosecutor's
function in New York State. The Office of the Attorney General, one of
the three independently elected state-level officers has the political
legitimacy, independence and historic reputation for objectivity to
undertake such a function and provide substantial justice. This bill
will allow a state-level officer to once again perform this vital
function.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2015-16: S.2526 - Referred to Local Government

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding
the date on which it shall have become law.
* See http://ny-popculture-politics.blogspot.com/2013/08/
Christine-Quinn-NYPDAbner-Louima-Brutality-Task-Force-
Anniversary.html, last visited October 11, 2013.  ** See
http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-10-05/news/the-
louima-case-is-not-dead/, last visited October 11, 2013.
*** See http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/sean-bell-scene-
probeintentionally-bothced-black-police-group-article1.290813, last
visited July 1, 2013.
**** See http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/02/06/
special-prosecutor-sought- inbronx-police-beating/, last visited July
1, 2013.
***** See http://nlgnyc.org/2013/03/19/ngl-nyc-
condemns-police-killing-of-sixteenyear-old-kimani-gray/, last visited
October 11, 2013.
******http://bayridgejournal.blogspot.
com/2013/07/george-give-scarcel-la -cases-to-special.htmp, last
visited October 11, 2013.
******* See http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/ news/nation/2008-04-27-
1727642827x.htm, last visited July 1, 2013.
******** See http://www.usccr.gov/ pubs/guard/ ch4.htm, last visited
October 11, 2013.
********* Ed.see also U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Police
Practices and Civil Rights in New York City, August 2000,
recommendation 4.13 p.84 (hereafter cited as USCCR, Police Practices
in New York City); USCCR, Los Angeles Report, recommendation 4.7,
p.219.

2017-S3433 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   3433
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 23, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  PARKER, BAILEY, PERKINS -- read twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the  Committee  on  Local
   Government
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the county law and the executive law, in relation to
   requiring the attorney general to prosecute New York city police offi-
   cers charged with a criminal offense in violation of any of  the  laws
   of this state
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 700 of the county law, as  amended
 by chapter 560 of the laws of 1991, is amended to read as follows:
   1. Except as provided in section seven hundred one of this chapter, it
 shall be the duty of every district attorney to conduct all prosecutions
 for crimes and offenses, EXCLUDING CRIMES AND OFFENSES ALLEGEDLY COMMIT-
 TED  BY  POLICE  OFFICERS  EMPLOYED BY A CITY HAVING A POPULATION OF ONE
 MILLION OR MORE, cognizable by the courts of the county for which he  or
 she shall have been elected or appointed; except when the place of trial
 of  an indictment is changed from one county to another, it shall be the
 duty of the district attorney of the  county  where  the  indictment  is
 found to conduct the trial of the indictment so removed, and it shall be
 the  duty  of the district attorney of the county to which such trial is
 changed to assist in such trial upon the request of the district  attor-
 ney  of  the  county  where  the  indictment  was found. He or she shall
 perform such additional and related duties as may be prescribed  by  law
 and directed by the board of supervisors.
   § 2. Section 700 of the county law is amended by adding a new subdivi-
 sion 1-a to read as follows:
   1-A.  IT  SHALL  BE  THE DUTY OF EVERY DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO INFORM THE
 ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF ANY  CRIMES  AND  OFFENSES  ALLEGEDLY  COMMITTED  BY
 POLICE OFFICERS EMPLOYED BY A CITY HAVING A POPULATION OF ONE MILLION OR
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD07386-01-7

 S. 3433                             2
 
 MORE FOR FURTHER ACTION BY THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL, PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION
 TEN-A OF SECTION SIXTY-THREE OF THE EXECUTIVE LAW.
   § 3. Section 63 of the executive law is amended by adding a new subdi-
 vision 10-a to read as follows:
   10-A. PROSECUTE EVERY POLICE OFFICER EMPLOYED BY A CITY HAVING A POPU-
 LATION  OF ONE MILLION OR MORE CHARGED WITH THE COMMISSION OF A CRIMINAL
 OFFENSE IN VIOLATION OF ANY OF THE LAWS  OF  THIS  STATE.  IN  ALL  SUCH
 PROCEEDINGS,  THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL MAY APPEAR IN PERSON OR BY HIS DEPUTY
 OR ASSISTANT BEFORE ANY COURT OR ANY GRAND JURY  AND  EXERCISE  ALL  THE
 POWERS  AND  PERFORM  ALL  THE  DUTIES  IN  RESPECT  OF  SUCH ACTIONS OR
 PROCEEDINGS WHICH THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY WOULD OTHERWISE BE AUTHORIZED OR
 REQUIRED TO EXERCISE OR PERFORM.
   § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.

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Senate Bill S3433

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Sponsored By

Kevin S. Parker