A new bill would ban cops in the state from stopping and searching drivers over a slew of low-level violations — including the one that ended up nabbing serial killer Joel Rifkin.
Top law-enforcement officials are calling the Albany proposal the “most dangerous” and “craziest” bill they have ever seen, warning it would limit cops’ ability to conduct routine traffic stops that can uncover much more serious crimes.
“It is the most ridiculous thing I have seen in my 36 years in law enforcement,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly told reporters Friday outside of the county’s police memorial in Mineola, LI.
The proposed legislation would no longer allow officers to stop or search drivers over such issues as busted head or tail lights, expired registrations and inspections, window tints and even the smell of marijuana.
Donnelly said she believes the bill would disproportionately impact Nassau County because of the region’s high number of drivers and car accidents, allowing scofflaws and criminals to essentially break the law and get away with it.
She brought up the fact that Rifkin murdered at least 17 people in the area before being uncovered in 1993 during a traffic stop over the missing license plate on the rear of his tan Mazda pick-up truck — which was hiding a body in its trunk.
“When an officer walks up to a driver and asks them for their license and registration — they never know what is going to happen next,” Donnelly said. “It’s important to be able to make these legitimate stops. There is no such thing as a routine traffic stop.”
But supporters of the bill argued it’s a necessary step toward promoting racial equity and preventing unnecessary police encounters, especially in Nassau — which has an active lawsuit against the county claiming that the police have “acted with racial bias” when making traffic stops.
Though black and Latino residents make up under 30% of the county’s population combined, police data show they account for 61% of arrests, 50% of traffic stops, 60% of field interviews and 69% of pat-downs.
White drivers on average also receive 1.3 tickets per stop compared to two tickets for black drivers and 2.1 for Latino drivers.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman called that argument “ridiculous,” and said most of the time a stop is made, police are unaware of the driver’s race beforehand.
“It’s just a bizarre argument, it’s pro-criminal,” Blakeman said. “It doesn’t matter what race you are. If you’re breaking the law then you’re breaking the law.”
Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said that most of the time, low-level infractions such as broken lights or expired registrations result in warnings, but not having the power to enforce the law makes the roads less safe.
“They say the roads are so bad in Nassau County. Well, you would just be taking another tool away from us that’s going to get these bad drivers off the road,” he said. “Stop taking the handcuffs off of the criminals and putting them onto our men and women in law enforcement.”
State Sen. Brady Hoylman-Sigal, who sponsored the bill, did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office did not respond, either.
