Subway turnstile jumpers will no longer be put on the fast track to Rikers Island under a proposal announced Wednesday by City Council Speaker Melissa Mark- Viverito — although cops said the move would further handcuff their crime-fighting efforts.
In her State of the City Address, Mark-Viverito called for “expanding the use of summonses and desk-appearance tickets” instead of locking up New Yorkers for certain nonviolent offenses such as fare beating.
“We cannot continue to lock up those accused of low-level, nonviolent offenses without recognizing the dire, long-term consequences to them and to our city,” she said at the James Weldon Johnson Community Center in East Harlem.
There would be exceptions, though, and the new rule wouldn’t apply to suspects with outstanding arrest warrants, the Speaker’s Office said.
But a police source insisted that having the power to handcuff even minor crooks is important to solving higher-level crimes.
“They’re taking another law-enforcement tool away from us,” the source said.
Low-level offenders often supply key information about more serious crimes, the source added.
We cannot continue to lock up those accused of low-level, nonviolent offenses without recognizing the dire, long-term consequences to them and to our city.
- City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito
“Once you arrest them, you can talk to them about a shooting or a stabbing or other serious crimes in the area,” the source said.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said officers already exercise discretion in how to handle certain minor offenses.
“The significant number of people that get stopped for fare invasion get a summons or [desk-appearance ticket],” he said.
Mark-Viverito also called for the creation of a citywide bail fund that could save “the city millions in incarceration costs” — and claimed that pilot programs have been highly successful.
While details of the proposal still need to be ironed out with the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, the bail fund would likely be bankrolled by a city-established nonprofit that would cost $1.4 million to set up and operate, the Speaker’s Office said.
Only low-level offenders who haven’t committed felonies and have bail set at less than $2,000 would qualify for funding. When offenders show up in court, the money would go back to the city, the Speaker’s Office added.
Louis Turco, president of the Lieutenants Benevolent Association, called the bail proposal “ill conceived.”
“Judges set bail for people who are a flight risk,” he said. “If the money’s not coming out of his pocket and the city’s on the hook, why would that person go back to court?”
Additional reporting by Michael Gartland