Walter Katz noted that without the introduction of body cams on NYPD officers, it would be meaningless. He’s an optimist, but then, he’s thrown his lot, his efforts, into believing that there can be systemic fixes to the problems with cops. As the Deputy Chief of Staff for public safety to the mayor of Chicago, Walter left behind the criminal defense lawyer’s plight of fighting for one defendant at a time to make the system better. If he didn’t believe, there would be no point to the job.

But the law, New York City’s “Right to Know” act, is both an ambitious, yet silly effort. Enacted by the City Council, its pedigree is dubious. The City Council has nothing to do with criminal law in New York, which is controlled by state law, so there isn’t a thing about this palliative law that will change what happens to individuals who are denied its benefits in court. The cops didn’t comply? Bummer. Off to prison you go.

It’s up to NYPD, line supervisors, officers, to either do it or not. What are they being told to do? One example from the “fact sheet” is the handling of a Level 2 stop under DeBour, New York’s somewhat distinct flavor of a Terry stop.

Level 2 – Common Law Right of Inquiry: If an officer has a founded suspicion of criminal activity happening, the officer may ask accusatory questions (e.g., “Do you have anything on you?” “Are there any weapons in here?” “Did you just buy drugs?”) and may seek consent to search. The officer is not permitted to restrict your freedom of movement. You are free to walk away. If you are not sure if you are being detained, you may ask, “Am I free to leave?”

• New: Officers should identify themselves and give an explanation for the encounter.
• New: Officers must inform you that they may only conduct a search if you consent to the search of your person, property, vehicle, or home.
• New: Officers should offer you a business card at the end of the encounter with their name and shield number on it.

Sounds good, right? After all, there is no justification for the police to stop a person but refuse to say why, state their “founded suspicion of criminal activity.” But will they? It may be argued that this will only lead to an argument, denials, a shouting match and resisting, all of which, police might contend, create a greater risk of confrontation, undermine command presence, and threat of harm.

Whether this is so isn’t so much the question as is cops’ willingness to comply. If they don’t like the idea, will they do it because a City Council law says they must? It won’t change the outcome in criminal court, as failure to provide an explanation is not a component of DeBour, doesn’t make the encounter, and any ensuing arrest, unlawful or unconstitutional. It’s a “right” only because the City Council says it is. What good is a right without a remedy?

How do I file a complaint if an officer violated the Right to Know Act?

If you feel that your encounter with an NYPD officer did not follow these guidelines, file a complaint with the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board. You can file a complaint online at nyc.gov/ccrbcomplaint, by phone at 1-800-341-2272, or at our office at 100 Church St., 10th Fl., New York, NY 10007.

This is a curiosity in systemic efforts to fix the police. The Civilian Complaint Review Board is another palliative idea that seemed as if it might have worked, but never did. It’s one of only three review boards nationwide with the authority to investigate. What it lacks is the power to discipline if, on rare occasion, it finds a complaint “substantiated.” It can recommend a sanction, but it can’t make it happen, and the nice folks at 1 Police Plaza who actually have their hands on the ship of cops have never shown much concern, and certainly no deference, to the CCRB’s views.

Even if the CCRB had some clout, and wasn’t merely a cathartic outlet for people to turn to when they need a place to complain about cops and get it out of their system, only to disappear into the ether and never be heard from again, complaints about failure to adhere to the new “rights” could prove so overwhelmingly burdensome as to paralyze it. Bear in mind, NYPD has more officers than most small nations have soldiers, about 36,000 sworn officers on top of support staff of 19,000. When people talk of New York being a blue city, they mean it.

Despite all this, Walter remains hopeful that through laws, through requirements like handing out business cards, explaining one’s actions, informing people that they have the right to refuse to consent to a search so they no longer feel coerced into submitting to the shield, some of the more oppressive problems of policing can be addressed and, dare I say it, improved. Walter is right that we need to try to create systems that improve encounters, reduce the hostility and sense of fear that people feel toward police, and police feel toward people, and most of all, to protect the rights provided by law that are mostly observed in the breach.

Having watched with some sad bemusement as past efforts at systemic corrections to the system were not only ignored, but often flipped on their heads and used as a further means to make people’s lives miserable at the hands of government, it’s hard to share Walter’s hopefulness. It’s not that he’s wrong to hope, or that the efforts to create systemic improvements are a waste of time. It’s that the hope they create, and the subsequent letdown as they fail, usually miserably, to fix anything, just makes people more cynical and hostile.

Worse still, when the cops figure out how to turn this against people, and they will almost certainly work day and night to find some way to use this to their advantage, it becomes another weapon in their arsenal rather than the people’s.

This time, however, there will be body cams to eliminate the “he said/she said” of anecdotal complaints. As Walter says, without body cams, this law would be meaningless. So maybe these cameras will make the difference and finally break the cycle of NYPD treating people, mostly black and Hispanic people naturally, like subhuman garbage?

Or maybe not. At least not just yet.

I hope Walter is right in his optimism and belief that systemic changes can work. It’s just that experience suggests otherwise.