The "How Many Stops Act," which requires officers to record the race, age and gender of the civilians they approach during investigative encounters, has officially taken effect.

The City Council passed the legislation back in December. Mayor Eric Adams vetoed the bill, but lawmakers overrode his decision a few weeks later.

During an appearance on “Mornings On 1” Monday, Adams said the NYPD is prepared to be in compliance with the new law.  

“As in any new initiative, there may be a few bumps along the way, but we're going to do what the law calls for us to do,” he said. “The time for me to raise my concern was raised. Now that it's law, we will move forward. That is how we're always going to operate.” 

Prior to Monday, the law only required officers to document what they deemed a “Level 3” investigative stop, defined by the NYPD patrol guide as instances when officers strongly suspect the person stopped has committed or is committing a crime.  

Under the new law, officers now have to record “Level 1” and “Level 2” encounters.  

These could range from requesting basic information of an individual not suspected of a crime to the questioning of a person officers believed may have committed a crime.  

John Jay College adjunct lecturer Jill Snider spent 15 years as an NYPD officer, and believes the new law will hinder police-community relations.

“When an officer is talking to someone and asks their name and address, most times that person gets a little defensive like, why are you asking me for that? Which I think will also make people a little reluctant to speak to the police willingly,” Snider said. 

Elected leaders wrote the bill after a report from a federal monitor found nearly a quarter of “Level 3” stops between April and October of 2022 were considered unconstitutional, and 97% of the individuals stopped were Black or Hispanic.

The legislation does not require those stopped to provide the demographic info being collected by police, so critics say some of the data is assumed and inaccurate.

Supporters of the law say it will give the public a better understanding of who is being stopped by police and why.  

“We'll have a clearer sense of what the actual day to day realities look like of our current approach to policing so that we can inform any future effort to address police actions in New York City,” Michael Sisitzky, assistant policy director for the New York Civil Liberties Union, said. 

It is unclear exactly what directives the NYPD has given its officers in order to collect and record this information.  

Causal interactions, like saying hello to officers or asking for directions, do not count as a “Level 1” encounter, and the legislation does not require interactions be documented in real time. But it does require the data to be released to the public every quarter.