The New York City Council overrode Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto of the Community Safety Act last month, striking a massive blow to the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy. Although the City Council had passed the Community Safety Act in June, both bills were vetoed by Bloomberg in July.

More than two years in the making, the Community Safety Act is comprised of two bills. The first, known as “The NYPD Inspector General” bill, will allow the commissioner of the Department of Investigation to appoint an Inspector General to oversee the NYPD’s activities and policies.

The second bill, known as, the “Bias-Based Profiling Bill,” will expand current anti-discrimination policy over the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk procedure to protect everyone regardless of age, gender, immigration status, sexual orientation, disability, and housing status and would permit individuals to sue the NYPD in state court.

The Inspector General bill passed 39-10, and the anti-profiling bill passed 34-15. All Council members voted the same way they did in the first vote on June 26, though Council Members Peter Vallone and Dan Halloran were absent.

The Council’s override of Bloomberg’s veto comes just one week after a federal judge ruled the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy unconstitutional and racially discriminatory in the case of Floyd v. City of New York. Bloomberg then vowed to appeal the decision, saying that the Community Safety Act would “make our city, and in fact the whole country, a more dangerous place.”

While the profiling bill will take effect in 90 days, the Inspector General bill will not take effect until January, meaning that it will be up to the next administration to implement the new oversight.

Bronx Council Member Andy King said he was “proud to be a part of this historic victory of the City Council.” “We finally stood up to the voices and cries of New Yorkers who have been discriminated against by the NYPD. I am relieved that there will finally be more oversight,” he said.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Sept. 5-19 print edition of the Norwood News.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.