Senate Bill S8427

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8427

SPONSOR: COMRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to modernizing
the statutory peace officer designation of certain employees of the
Triborough bridge and tunnel authority

 
PURPOSE:

An internal review by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of
current deployments, strategies, policies, procedures, and practices,
consistent with broader law enforcement reform measures taking place in
New York State and nationwide, reveals the operational need to augment
the statutory designation of peace officers to expressly include those
qualified, sworn, and trained officers of the Triborough Bridge and
Tunnel Authority (TBTA) who perform law enforcement-related, security-
related, and/or safety-related functions so that they may be statutorily
designated by TBTA for all purposes as peace officers, thus enhancing
appropriate standards of conduct, oversight, and accountability.

 
              

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of this bill would amend Subdivision 20 of § 2.10 the Criminal
Procedure Law to expressly include in the statutory designation of peace
officers those qualified, sworn, and trained officers of the Triborough
Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) who perform law enforcement-related,
security-related, and/or safety-related, Command Staff functions to help
protect TBTA's bridges and tunnels facilities and to afford protection,
as needed, to the MTA and its agencies, as well as the public at large.

Section 2 of this bill provides that this act would take effect imme-
diately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

TBTA's Law Enforcement Division has evolved since Criminal Procedure Law
("CPL") § 2.10 was first enacted more than forty years ago. At that
time, the legislative intent of CPL § 2.10 was to codify the power of
certain peace officers to help them enforce the law and protect revenue.
Since then, the role of TBTA's law enforcement personnel and their
interaction with the public has exponentially increased, necessitating
the protections to be afforded by requiring all sworn officers to be
certified as having completed the peace officer training protocols,
consistent with broader law enforcement reform initiatives in New York
State and nationwide.

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, TBTA's law enforce-
ment personnel were called upon to fulfill expanded law enforcement-re-
lated, security-related, and safety-related duties and responsibilities,
often working closely with other branches of law enforcement, to An act
to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to modernizing the
statutory peace officer designation of certain employees of the Tribor-
ough bridge and tunnel authority protect TBTA's bridge and tunnel facil-
ities from terroristic and other threats. Over the years, many of those
officers have developed into experienced Command Staff; who oversee and
are often themselves called upon to perform the same functions as those
officers they now manage and supervise, including making and properly
effectuating arrests, revenue protection and recovery, crowd control,
and event and incident management. These functions also include respond-
ing to imminent threats to persons or property, such as natural disas-
ters and pandemic relief, both on and off TBTA facilities. For all
intents and purposes, the Command Staff oversee the law enforcement
division of TBTA. They are regularly called into harm's way, providing
necessary support and guidance in the field while exposing themselves to
danger, without the same protections presently afforded by the current,
outdated TBTA peace officer designation. Such oversight by sworn offi-
cers at the Command Staff level, however, is an essential element of
police reform and would be codified into law by virtue of this bill.

Because police reform requires proper training and tactics, the desig-
nation by TBTA of certain employees for all purposes as peace officers
would be contingent upon them having satisfactorily completed all
required peace officer training and certification, furthering the goals
of this legislation, which are to: enhance the effectiveness of the TBTA
law enforcement force and Command Staff; increase public safety; protect
civil liberties and civil rights; ensure compliance with constitutional
protections and local, state and federal laws; ensure the proper appli-
cation of training and tactics; and increase the public's confidence in
TBTA's law enforcement, security, public safety, and overall MTA system
reliability.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:.

None,

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.