Lander street safety plan would remove NYPD from traffic enforcement
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NYPD officers confiscated a scooter from a rider near the intersection of Crescent Street and Astoria Boulevard Sunday. Photo courtesy of Brad Lander
By David Brand
Councilmember Brad Lander and Council candidate Tiffany Cabán were walking nearby an Astoria bike lane Sunday when they encountered three police officers grilling a delivery worker who stood next to his electric moped.
The cops confiscated the moped, jeopardizing the man’s ability to perform his job, said Lander, who is running for city comptroller. “Who knows what’s going to happen to that guy out there earning his living when he doesn’t have his vehicle,” Lander said.
Police said Monday that the moped operator was traveling in the wrong direction and turned without signal lights. The incident took place near the intersection of Crescent Street and Astoria Boulevard, where a scooter rider was killed when a beer truck driver veered into an unprotected bike lane Friday.
Lander said the scooter stop demonstrated the “misaligned” priorities of NYPD traffic enforcement and underscored his new policy proposal to get cops out of the business of making traffic stops.
The plan would save money, redirect police resources and prevent potentially fatal encounters, like the police killing of Bronx resident Allan Feliz during a routine traffic stop in Oct. 2019, Lander said. Cops pulled Feliz over for not a wearing a seatbelt and then tried to arrest him after they ran a warrant check.
“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,” he said. “Traffic enforcement by police does little to achieve safer streets, but brings with it the risk of racial profiling and escalatory violence.”
Under the plan, NYPD officers would only enforce driving behavior that visibly endangers public safety, like drag-racing or aggressive driving. The NYPD did not provide a response when asked about the plan.
Last year, 220 people died in traffic collisions and more than 60,000 were injured in New York City. The city is on pace to record more traffic deaths this year, according to Department of Transportation data.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has also proposed removing the police from routine traffic enforcement, as has State Sen. Alessandria Biaggi.Berkeley, California became the first city in the U.S. to task unarmed municipal workers with routine traffic stops in July.
The traffic enforcement plan is one of a handful of street safety measures Lander has backed in his bid for comptroller.
He has proposed adding more cameras to issue traffic fines, building more protected bike lanes and expanding the Reckless Driver Accountability Act, a measure he sponsored in 2018 to force drivers who accrue five red light tickets or 15 school speed zone violations in a single year to take a driver safety course. If the driver does not attend the class, the city sheriff can seize their vehicle. The city has not yet funded implementation of the measure, which became law earlier this year.
Lander said each proposal would save lives and money, thus falling within the purview of the comptroller, even though the officeholder has no power over implementation.
He said the role as “chief accountability officer” empowers the comptroller to identify data-driven cost savings while enhancing public safety.
“It’s exactly the job of the comptroller to identify data, make recommendations and work with partners in the community to make those changes,” he said.
