According to officials of the New York Police Department (NYPD) who came before the New York City Council on December 16, city taxpayers have paid more than $1.4 million in department overtime. The dramatic increase in costs comes as a result of the “How Many Stops Act,” which mandates that officers must document the details of their interactions with civilians with the goal of transparency and accountability.

What the How Many Stops Act Requires

While Mayor Eric Adams initially vetoed the legislation, the council overrode his veto and put the law into effect in July of this year. The law requires that police file paperwork on three levels of encounters with citizens of New York City, from “Level 1,” least impactful, to “Level 3,” which typically ends with an arrest or other major action. According to city statistics, there were more than 562,000 such encounters in the Third Quarter of 2024.

Differences of Opinion

Though the law states that it will gather more data on issues of racial profiling and improve community trust, lawmakers like Councilman Bob Holden have expressed different opinions. 

“Some of my colleagues have shown to be unserious people, prioritizing political posturing over public safety,” Holden (D-Queens) said during the meeting. “They criticize NYPD overtime spending while pushing legislation that adds excessive paperwork, costing taxpayers nearly $1.5 million and 18,000 overtime hours in just one quarter.”

The Length of Report Time

Those of Holden’s opinion feel that filing a report for even brief community encounters only adds to department costs, requiring that officers remain for hours after their shifts completing paperwork. According to sources referenced by The New York Post, an officer can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to complete a report.

“We do have an overtime code for How Many Stops,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters Michael Gerber told the Public Safety committee. “The third quarter of 2024, it’s about 18,000 hours spent on the form by our police officers. That’s about $1.44 million in overtime. So, I think you’re not seeing it play out in response time.”

“High cost, low value,” Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) told The Post, “Sounds about right for a City Council idea.”

Failure to Report

Despite the overtime costs and departmental complaints, critics argued that as many as 30% of police encounters remained undocumented. Even though officers take overtime for the additional work, critics could say that they aren’t exactly being thorough.

“I dare say that no other agency could possibly get away with this on the administrative side,” Council Speaker Arienne Adams said in March, “I don’t think any other agency would be able to do this.” 

Adams made this statement when estimates of NYPD overtime costs hit $740 million for this fiscal year before the rise of How Many Stops overtime costs. 

“The NYPD’s continuing failure to ensure adequate supervision, adequate documentation for stops and discipline for still prevalent racial profiling means they are not in compliance with the court order to engage in constitutional policing,” Samah Sisay, attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, told the council on Monday.

Alternatives to the Legislation and NYPD Response

98% of the paperwork filed in the third quarter of 2024 was for so-called Level 1 encounters, according to NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, which could include mundane encounters such as asking citizens if they need help. For his part, Gerber suggested that an “executive-level working group” might make the task easier on officers, in addition to the use of new electronic forms and further training.

“What we’ve done as part of our policy is we’ve given officers the choice,” Gerber told lawmakers. “For the Level 1 form, they can fill it out essentially in real time… or you can do it at the end of your tour, based on body-worn camera, based on your activity log, based on your memory. That flexibility, we thought, was important.”