NYPD cops begin reporting minor stops under controversial law

The “How many stops?” law is in effect.

The city’s controversial new law requiring NYPD cops to file reports on all low-level investigative stops on New Yorkers officially went into effect Monday — and rank-and-file officers weren’t happy.

“It was a real pain,” a law enforcement source told the Post.

The City Council passed the bill in January after Mayor Eric Adams made every effort — including a veto — to kill it.

Adams, NYPD officials, police union leaders and many ordinary New Yorkers have argued that the law would bog down officers in excessive red tape — a fear the mayor reiterated Monday.

“We need our officers to patrol, not to do paperwork, but it’s the law, and we have to follow it,” Adams told 1010 WINS.

Police officials said the new reports will be recorded using smartphones.

An internal NYPD order obtained by the Post details the amount of paperwork officers are supposed to complete under the law.

Uniformed officers must now document the “total number” of Level 1 encounters — which are stops in which they ask people for information — at the end of their shift, according to the order.

These general ratios counting the lowest levels of stops will not apply to Level 2 encounters, during which officers ask accusatory questions or seek consent to a search, the order states.

For each of these higher-level investigative checks, officers will have to complete individual reports, the order specifies.

“Officers will use forms on their smartphones to track required data, which will be aggregated and made public on a quarterly basis,” an NYPD spokesperson said.

The internal order makes clear that police officers are not required to report chance encounters with the public unless officers have reason to gather information or suspicion that a crime has been committed.

“An investigative meeting does not include an informal conversation between a member of the Department and a member of the public,” he said.

Police sources could not immediately say how much work the new smartphone-based reports would add to officers’ days.

But they raised a host of other grievances, including the requirement for police officers to report the “apparent” race or ethnicity of people they stop.

“One of the most racist things you can ask a police officer to do is assume someone’s race based on their appearance,” one source said.

“Who are we to presume someone’s race?”

Another police source fears that the arrest reports will end up in the hands of the NYPD’s internal watchdog – the Civilian Complaint Review Board – and progressive members of the council.

“This data is actually intended to be used by the CCRB against the police department to express some form of bias,” the source said. “The board is likely going to use this data as a weapon.”

Supporters of the law, such as Public Defender Jumaane Williams, have argued that collecting such information is necessary to provide much-needed transparency to the NYPD, hold officers accountable for illegal stops and reduce racial profiling.

“For too long, unreported stops have allowed the NYPD to harass marginalized communities with impunity,” said Lindsey Smith, an attorney in the Special Litigation Unit of the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Department.

“The implementation of the law on the number of arrests is essential for transparency and improving reporting on civilian arrests.”

Additional reporting by Amanda Woods