Reinvent Albany Joins Groups Urging City Council to Override Veto on Police Transparency Bill
January 28, 2026
NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin
NY City Council
250 Broadway, New York, NY 10007
VIA EMAIL
Re: Int. 1451-2025, Granting CCRB Direct Access to NYPD Body-Worn Camera (BWC) Footage
Dear Speaker Menin,
We, the undersigned organizations, urge the City Council to revisit yesterday’s reported decision not to override the veto of Intro 1451-2025. This legislation is a common-sense bill that would grant CCRB direct access to unsealed NYPD body-worn camera footage and mark a significant step towards improving police accountability in our City. It would increase efficiency of our City agencies, and bring police oversight in New York City in line with national best practices. Police oversight agencies throughout the country, like Chicago, Denver, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., already have direct access to department databases, including BWC footage.
There is no substitute for a law that guarantees sustained, direct access to critical evidence. Providing the CCRB with direct access to NYPD BWC footage would increase CCRB’s legitimacy and signal a strong commitment to external oversight of the NYPD. The current process, established through MOUs between the agencies and, historically, contingent on NYPD leadership’s willingness to cooperate with the CCRB, relegates the CCRB to be entirely reliant on the NYPD to produce footage that is essential to police misconduct investigations.
Contrary to NYPD contentions, testimony before this City Council made clear that Int. 1451 does not implicate privacy concerns related to sealed records. The legislation is in line with existing law governing the segregating of sealed and unsealed records with which the NYPD and CCRB must now comply. Indeed, the bill contains explicit language requiring compliance with relevant laws pertaining to the segregation of sealed materials. There is no discernable barrier to complying with Int. 1451 if passed except for NYPD’s own unwillingness.
Likewise, this straight-forward legislation does not implicate the privacy concerns of subject police officers since it is directed solely at direct access of BWC footage implicated by a civilian complaint for misconduct. Allowing investigators who are most familiar with the incident under investigation to search and retrieve relevant footage directly will eliminate a time-wasting process that creates unnecessary burden for both agencies and delays justice for New Yorkers who have been subjected to police misconduct.
We strongly urge this Council to override former Mayor Adams’ harmful veto and bring the CCRB one step closer to modern standards for police oversight.
Sincerely,
The Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense Practice
New York Civil Liberties Union
Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem
The Innocence Project
Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
Freedom Agenda
Brooklyn Defender Services
Youth Represent
Justice Committee
Reinvent Albany
LatinoJustice PRLDEF
Citizens Union
America On Trial Inc (AOT)
Urban Youth Alliance
New York County Defender Services
G.A.NG.S. Coalition
We Build the Block
Click here to view the letter as a PDF.