Remove NYPD From Traffic Enforcement, Brooklyn Councilman Says

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A new proposal from Brooklyn council member, and comptroller candidate, Brad Lander recommends pulling the NYPD from enforcing traffic laws, echoing calls from advocates for both police and transit reform.

Lander's proposal, which he released on his campaign website Sunday, contends that removing uniformed New York City police officers from routine traffic duty would improve street safety given the "failure of the NYPD to effectively prevent or hold accountable persistently dangerous drivers." The recommendations were announced on World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

“For too long, we have shifted more and more roles to police officers, bloating their budgets while starving other public safety and public health programs of resources," Lander said. "Traffic enforcement by police does little to achieve safer streets, but brings with it the risk of racial profiling and escalatory violence."

The proposal recommends removing NYPD from conducting routine traffic stops and instead transferring the police's "Collision Investigation Squad" to the Department of Transportation.

It is the latest idea for traffic safety from Lander, who sponsored the recently-passed Reckless Driver Accountability Act in City Council. The act — which Lander argues the mayor has failed to fund or implement — uses red-light and speed cameras to find and punish persistent dangerous drivers.

The proposal also comes as New York City, and the country, looks to reimagine the role of police following Black Lives Matter protests this year. Most recently, the city announced a pilot program to pull the NYPD from mental health calls.

Lander alluded to the Black Lives Matter movement in his reasoning for the traffic proposal, pointing out that Philando Castile, Sandra Bland and Allan Feliz were killed after routine traffic stops by cops.

NYPD detectives arrest just 1 percent of all hit-and-run drivers each year, according to Lander. In 2017 there were 46,000 hit-and-run crashes in New York City.

Lander said the crashes, and other dangerous collisions, have only gotten worse this year.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped NYC’s streets and transit patterns, yet traffic deaths have spiked," he wrote. "Even with fewer cars on the road this spring during the city’s lockdown, nearly 200 people have been killed by cars this year — putting [it] in on track to be the most deadly year for traffic crash deaths in the past decade."

Several police reform and safe streets advocates have already commended the proposal, according to quotes included in Lander's announcement.

The NYPD said they "strongly disagree" with the idea.

Read Lander's full proposal here.