City Councilman Rory Lancman filed suit last week to make the NYPD comply with a law he authored — and post online reports showing the number of arrests and summons for subway fare evasion, including data on the perps’ race. Are Police Commissioner James O’Neill and Mayor de Blasio hiding something?
Lancman (D-Queens), who’s joined in the suit by the usual civil-liberties groups, speculates that the data will show a racial disparity the city can’t justify. The law was spurred by a study showing that (under past policies) nearly 90 percent of those arrested for fare beating were African-American or Latino.
O’Neill claims — without much evidence — that disclosing the data creates a risk to public safety. The safety issue, however, wasn’t raised until the NYPD missed the first disclosure deadline on Jan 30.
Lancman counters, “It’s complete b.s. to think bad guys are sitting around looking at fare-evasion arrest statistics to determine which subway station to commit a crime in.” He also notes that public CompStat maps reveal where “actual” law-enforcement activity occurs — down to the address.
It may well be that the only thing at risk is de Blasio’s credibility in progressive circles, if the data still show a racial disparity. The mayor certainly won’t let his cops argue that blacks and Hispanics may just be more likely to jump turnstiles.
De Blasio has dodged from the start: The mandate became law 30 days after the council sent it to him. He could have vetoed it, or signed it. Captain Courageous did neither.
Which leaves O’Neill taking the heat to help save face for a boss who’s unwilling to stand up for New York’s Finest.