Mayor: New NYPD oversight jeopardizes city safety

Mayor: New NYPD oversight jeopardizes city safety

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says legislation passed by the City Council will make it more difficult for police officers to protect the city and continue to drive down crime.

The City Council today voted to create an outside watchdog for the nation’s biggest police department and make it easier for people to file profiling claims against it, overriding Bloomberg’s vetoes.

Proponents see the legislation as a check on a police force that’s come under scrutiny for its heavy use of a tactic known as stop and frisk and its extensive surveillance of Muslims, which was revealed in stories by The Associated Press.

A federal judge recently ruled the New York Police Department discriminated against minorities with its stop and frisk program and ordered a monitor to oversee changes.