SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Syracuse Common Council on Tuesday passed the Right To Know Act in a 7-1 vote. Councilman Joe Carni was the only councilor to vote no.
The Syracuse Police Accountability and Reform Coalition (SPAARC) first introduced a written version of the Right to Know Act, modeled off of an existing law in New York City, about a year and a half ago. The law requires police officers to identify themselves to individuals they encounter, provide a reason for why they are stopping someone, and provide that person with a way to file a complaint should they feel the need to do so.
The Right to Know Act was part of the nine demands the group presented to the City of Syracuse earlier this summer.
Chairman of the Syracuse Common Council Public Safety Committee, Chol Majok, said the law was passed based on community feedback.
“This is a way for us as elected officials, as representatives, to show we are listening to our communities and constituents,” Majok said
The People's Agenda for Policing, a group demanding action to be taken to transform policing in Syracuse, said it wants to thank those members of the Common Council who voted in favor of the act and looks forward to continuing to work with the Council on more policing issues in Syracuse.
"The Right to Know Act is a significant first step in rebuilding community and police relationships by requiring officers to provide individuals with business cards, obtain knowing consent before conducting certain searches, and providing data publicly on stops and searches in our city," the People's Agenda for Policing said in a statement released.
A vote on the law at the end of September was delayed after two memos from Syracuse Police Chief Kenton Buckner, and the city's Corporation Counsel Kristen Smith were sent to the council with suggestions related to the legislation.
Common Councilor Joe Driscoll said that while some of these suggestions were adopted, none of them significantly changed the new legislation.
"A lot of the changes that were made were operational things that we hadn't considered," Driscoll said, "The way it was worded originally was an officer needed to give a badge number at the initiation of an encounter with a member of the public. SPD requested that be changed to during the encounter," Driscoll said.
In a statement, Chief Buckner told CNY Central at the time that “The Syracuse Police Department is committed to implementing the principles embodied in Right to Know. Recognizing the importance of the law to the community, the Council, the Mayor, and the Department, we have presented advice to the Council to ensure we get implementation right.”
The law does not state how officers will be disciplined if they choose not to abide by the Right to Know Act. Councilor Majok said the council will leave that to the police.
" When legislation like this is passed, a lot of this was intentionally left for the police," Majok said.
The Right to Know Act will take effect on December 14.
SPAARC issued a response on Wednesday, praising the Common Council for passing the act. They called for Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh to sign the act into law, and for Syracuse Police Chief Kenton Buckner to create necessary policies and procedures to ensure the act is implemented:
"We now implore Mayor Walsh to immediately sign the Right to Know Act into law. The Common Council has taken action. It is now time for Mayor Walsh to also take action and sign this important legislation into law. Once the Right to Know Act is signed by Mayor Walsh, we demand that Chief Buckner create the necessary policies and procedures to implement the Right to Know Act by its effective date on December 14, 2020, and to do so in good faith to ensure the law is followed."
The group also requested renewed discussions with Walsh's administration on their remaining demands.