#De Blasio signs anti-chokehold bill and other reforms while noting NYPD concerns

Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a suite of six NYPD reform bills Wednesday, including a ban on chokeholds, while acknowledging concerns that the new laws will make it harder for cops to do their jobs.

“People want to be safe. They need to be safe. They want to work with the NYPD and they want respect in turn,” de Blasio said while signing the legislation package in the Bronx after joining activists to paint “Black Lives Matter” on Morris Avenue between between 161st and 162nd streets.

“I also want to be honest when there are concerns out there. It makes sense to talk about it, not to run away from it,” de Blasio said.

On the bill that will make it a criminal offense for cops to use chokeholds, de Blasio said, “I know many in the police department including many I truly respect are concerned.

“Because although they agree 100 percent and it’s been the policy of the police department, we cannot have chokeholds, there’s concern around some of the additional language around diaphragms.”

In addition to criminalizing chokeholds, the bill includes a prohibition on other restraints of a person’s diaphragm or ability to breathe such as sitting, kneeling or standing on someone’s chest or back.

Last week NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan called the diaphragm portion of the legislation “dangerous.”

“The idea of the diaphragm bill — and I call it a diaphragm bill — because we have no objection to the chokehold portion of it, but any cop who’s ever fought with someone on the street, trying to get him into cuffs, there’s a great possibility that your knee is going to end up on that individual’s back, and now this new law is criminalizing it,” Monahan said during a PIX11 interview.

“We try to avoid that, but in the midst of a fight, it’s pretty hard to make sure that doesn’t happen,” said Monahan. “When you have to worry that someone who may have taken a shot at you that you are now arresting, if your knee hits their back, you become the criminal.”

But Monahan’s warnings didn’t prevent the mayor from making the bill law.

“I am signing this bill because I believe we can make it work,” the mayor said Wednesday.

De Blasio made no mention of an earlier incident on the Brooklyn Bridge where Monahan’s finger was broken when he was attacked by a group of people who were at a George Floyd protest.

Last month the mayor repeatedly praised the top uniformed cop for kneeling with Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Washington Square Park.

The other laws signed by the mayor will require the NYPD to:

• Issue yearly reports on how it uses surveillance technology and steps it takes to shield personal information from collection;
• Establish a centralized system to identify officers with a history of complaints and disciplinary problems;
• Standardized police discipline and release the guidelines for punishment to the public;
• Orders officers to ensure their badge numbers and rank are clearly visible.
• Issue yearly reports on how it uses surveillance technology and steps it takes to shield personal information from collection.