New York City Council pushes for decriminalization of low-level offenses; Top cop pushes back

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Some feel it is oppressive when police officers in New York arrest people for seemingly minor offenses like cycling on a sidewalk.

And although these types of arrests are down dramatically, there is a move in the City Council to decriminalize low-level offenses like littering, fare evasion, public drinking, public urination, cycling on a sidewalk and loitering after hours in a city park.

Supporters of the plan say they should be treated like parking violations, not crimes.

In Park Slope, just eight people were arrested for sidewalk cycling from 2008 to 2011, but there were more than 1,000 in the poorer neighborhood of Brownsville and more than 2,000 in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the same period.

NYPD Commissioner William Bratton defended the department's policing strategies and said officers need the power to make arrests in low-level offenses while having discretion.

Bratton said he is sending a letter to City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito to elaborate on his feelings on decriminalizing low-level offenses.

Bratton released a 41-page report that finds arrests for numerous types of misdemeanors fell in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the same period a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the NYPD has seen an increase in the number of desk appearance tickets it gives for misdemeanor arrests versus making defendants go before a judge for an arraignment. That number was 41 percent last year, the highest over the 14-year period dating to 2000.

The report suggests that quality-of-life policing and misdemeanor arrests "forestall felony crime." Enforcement actions of all kinds have been declining in New York City in what Bratton has called the "peace dividend."

"None of this means we can't explore alternatives to misdemeanor arrests," he said. "We can and we are doing so. We can be more considered and more considerate. We can be more respectful and more respected, and we will be."

Bratton said the city was a "mess" in the 1970s and 80s when quality-of-life crimes were neglected. What brought the city back, and what Bratton said he is doubling down on now, is so-called broken windows policing.

Bratton said the city needs it now more than ever if the 25 year run of safety is to continue. At the same time, Bratton said he is "committed to finding common ground" with political leaders who believe the NYPD is too heavy handed particularly in black and minority neighborhoods.