Public Safety Committee

COMMON COUNCIL COMMITTEE MEETING PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE Kelly Kimbrough, Chair DATE: Tuesday, June 30, 2020 TIME: 5:30 PM TOPIC OF DISCUSSION: ORDINANCE NUMBER 12.62.20 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING PART I (DEPARTMENT OF POLICE) OF CHAPTER 42 (DEPARTMENTS AND COMMISSIONS) OF PART I (GENERAL LEGISLATION) OF THE CODE OF ALBANY BY CREATING A NEW ARTICLE REGARDING ALBANY POLICE DEPARTMENT INTEREACTIONS PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: NO The meeting is being held in accordance to Executive Order 202.15 which prohibits in-person attendance at public meetings, if executive order 202.15 expires before June 30, 2020, this will be an in- person meeting in City Hall, please check our website and Facebook for updates. Please submit your public comment via email commoncouncil@albanyny.gov or on our website https://www.albanyny.gov/Government/CityOfficials/CommonCouncil.aspx by Tuesday, June 30, 2020 12pm which will be read for the record at the meeting. Meeting will be held using Zoom and streamed through the Albany Common Council’s Facebook. To stream this video please visit: https://www.facebook.com/albany.commoncouncil If any technical problems, the video will then be streamed to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-rQHp1fBLPcdk_4N6J4XbQ Councilmembers Robinson, Balarin, Frederick introduced the following: ORDINANCE NUMBER 12.62.20 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING PART I (DEPARTMENT OF POLICE) OF CHAPTER 42 (DEPARTMENTS AND COMMISSIONS) OF PART I (GENERAL LEGISLATION) OF THE CODE OF ALBANY BY CREATING A NEW ARTICLE REGARDING ALBANY POLICE DEPARTMENT INTEREACTIONS The City of Albany, in Common Council convened, does hereby ordain and enact: Section 1. Part I (Department of Police) of Chapter 42 (Departments and Commissions) of Part I (Administrative Legislation) of the Code of the City of Albany is amended to read as follows: ARTICLE VIIB Albany Police Department Interactions. §42-54.2 Standardized Field Sobriety Tests A. The Albany Police Department shall provide Standardized Field Sobriety Tests in the Spanish language. Section 2. This ordinance shall take effect thirty days (30) after its enactment into law. APPROVED AS TO FORM THIS 15TH DAY OF JUNE, 2020 _________________________ Corporation Counsel To: Danielle Gillespie, City Clerk From: John-Raphael Pichardo, Esq., Research Counsel Re: Request for Common Council Legislation Supporting Memorandum Date: June 5, 2020 SPONSOR(S): Council Members Robinson, Balarin, Frederick ORDINANCE NUMBER 12.62.20 TITLE AN ORDINANCE AMENDING PART I (DEPARTMENT OF POLICE) OF CHAPTER 42 (DEPARTMENTS AND COMMISSIONS) OF PART I (GENERAL LEGISLATION) OF THE CODE OF ALBANY BY CREATING A NEW ARTICLE REGARDING ALBANY POLICE DEPARTMENT INTEREACTIONS PURPOSE To require the Albany Police Department to perform Standardized Field Sobriety Tests in Spanish. JUSTIFICATION Under Vehicle and Traffic Law (“VTL”) 1192 (3) a person is guilty of Driving While Intoxicated when that person operates a motor vehicle in an intoxicated state. This law does not require any particular chemical or physical test to prove that a person was in an intoxicated condition. In fact, to determine whether the defendant was intoxicated the surrounding facts and circumstances may be considered. One of the circumstances that may be considered include the defendant’s submission to the Standardized Field Sobriety Test (“SFST”). The Standardized Field Sobriety Test is a battery of three tests performed during a traffic stop in order to determine if a driver is impaired. The three tests that make up the SFST are the horizontal gaze nystagmus (“HGN”), the walk-and-turn, and the one-leg stand tests. Developed in the 1970s, these tests are scientifically validated, and are admissible as evidence in court in a majority of states. The SFST are administered and evaluated during a traffic stop to determine impairment and probable cause for arrest. The HGN test is performed to observe whether the driver’s eyes involuntarily jerk as a stimulus is moved side to side. Both the walk-and-turn and one-leg stand tests are “divided attention” tests. They require a subject to listen and follow instructions while performing simple physical movements. A person may fail these tests simply by not following instructions as given by an officer. Which means that solely by not understanding the instructions presented in English, a non-English speaker may fail these tests, be presumed to be intoxicated, and charged criminally with a class A misdemeanor. While the SFST is used to prove a defendant’s culpability and possibly restrict them of their freedoms, these SFST have never been translated into Spanish, nor do they have any validated Spanish translation. In a city like Albany, a sanctuary city, in which we strive to protect the people that seek refuge, we have policies that actively discriminates against those that are non-native English speakers. It is unfair, and truly an injustice, to believe that a non-English speaker may be stopped by an officer, asked to submit to tests, roadside, and fail these tests only to be faced with an A misdemeanor which carries a penalty of up to one year in jail. FISCAL IMPACT To be determined. EFFECTIVE DATE Thirty days after enactment.