Bratton calls NYPD oversight 'overkill' but councilman pushes back
New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton seen after addressing the Independence Day detail at 23rd St. and FDR South Service Road in Manhattan on Saturday, July 4, 2015. Credit: Steven Sunshine
NYPD Commissioner William Bratton was steadfast Monday in his opposition to City Council proposals to increase oversight of his police department, criticizing the bills in a radio interview as "overkill."
Bratton said on AM970's "The John Gambling Show" that he believes there's no need to outlaw the use of chokeholds by police, make officers identify themselves with a business card or require them to remind people of their right to refuse a search.
"What the City Council is attempting to do is unnecessary," Bratton said. "It's overkill."
The NYPD now has more oversight than ever between a federal monitor, inspector general and five district attorneys "who have no issues with going after bad cops," Bratton said.
Eric Garner's police-involved death nearly a year ago on Staten Island has increased scrutiny on the use of chokeholds, which are banned by the NYPD but not criminalized.
City Councilman Rory Lancman, lead sponsor of the chokehold bill, invoked Garner on Twitter on Monday in a response to Bratton's remarks.
"You know what's 'overkill?' Choking [a] guy to death for griping about being cuffed for selling loose cigs. Literally," the Queens Democrat wrote.
Bratton said Monday that reforms to improve police and community relations already are underway.
"Let's give some of the current oversight a chance to work," he said.
The city's top cop had voiced a similar sentiment last week at a City Council hearing on the NYPD oversight bills. "Let's give peace a chance," he told council members.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said last week that he has "concerns" with the proposals and believes "there's a better way forward."
Gwen Carr, Garner's mother, supports the measures.
"We need accountability," she said last week at City Hall.
Bratton on Monday also denounced a proposal by City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito to decriminalize "quality of life" offenses, such as urinating in public. Under the plan, NYPD officers would issue desk-appearance tickets rather than arrest offenders.
Bratton said cops would be deprived of their "basic tools."
Mark-Viverito has not taken a position on the chokehold bill and has expressed reservations on the ID and search notification legislation, known as the Right to Know Act.
