BILL NUMBER: S1027

SPONSOR: RIVERA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring the munici-
pal police training council to promulgate regulations regarding psycho-
logical evaluations

 
PURPOSE:

To require that police officers who are primarily tasked with patrolling
the streets on a day-to-day basis, receive periodic psychological evalu-
ations.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

To require that police officers who are involved on a day to day basis
in patrolling and safeguarding the streets are to be assessed and are
able to maintain their fitness for duty by periodic (every three years)
psychological evaluations.
              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The job of a police officer is and may be one of the toughest occupa-
tions that a person may engage in, short of active military duty.
Studies have shown that many members of the military may suffer from
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and not even be aware of it.

Moreover, the police department requires that officers routinely qualify
with regard to their proficiency with their service weapons.  A failure
to qualify may in and of itself have adverse consequences to their
employment. The incongruity becomes patently obvious when and if an
officer is psychologically unfit, but nevertheless an expert marksmen.

A recent look back at some tragic circumstances lends credence to the
need for continuous evaluation of the mental fitness of these brave men
and women who have chosen to protect and serve in harrowing conditions
on a daily basis.

On Thanksgiving Day 1976 P.O. Robert Torsney shot Randolph Evans a
15-year old (unarmed) Brooklyn boy in the head at point blank range
after a brief conversation and drove back to the 75th Pct. where he was
arrested. At his trial in October 1977 he was found not guilty by reason
of insanity and remanded to a State mental hospital. On December 20,1978
a Brooklyn Supreme Court ordered Torsney's release stating "he no longer
posed a. threat to society."

Since that date to the present, there have been a number of unjustified
police shootings, involving unarmed citizens. Most recently the shooting
death of Ramarley Graham (18) an unarmed youth who was shot and killed
in his bathroom on February 2, 2012 after police broke into his building
and apartment illegally and that has sparked a great deal of public
controversy.

In homage to this issue, the New York Police Department (NYPD) recently
modified the rules concerning the use of deadly physical force. The NYPD
official patrol-guide, in the section referencing the use of firearms,
inserted the words "in their professional judgment."  The passage now
reads: "Police officers shall not discharge their weapons when, in their
professional judgment, doing so will unnecessarily endanger innocent
persons."

"Professional judgment" by definition means "the ability to judge, make
a decision - or form an opinion objectively, authoritatively, and wise-
ly, especially in matters affecting action; good sense; discretion:
"Professional judgment requires the utilization of one's faculties to
making quantitative decisions and/or problem solving skills which may be
impaired if there are psychological deficits.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:;

2013-2014: S942

2011-2012: S6853

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Take effect immediately after it shall become a law.