ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed new police reform legislation on Monday.
The new laws will require:
- State and local law enforcement officers to report within six hours when they discharge their weapon
- Courts to compile and publish racial and other demographic data of all low-level offenses
- Police officers to provide medical and mental health attention to individuals in custody
"Police reform is long overdue in this state and this nation, and New York is once again leading the way and enacting real change to end the systemic discrimination that exists in our criminal justice and policing systems," Governor Cuomo said. "These critical reforms will help improve the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve and take us one step closer to righting the many injustices minority communities have faced because of a broken and unfair system."
The new laws also require police departments to report any arrest-related death to the Department of Criminal Justice Services and to submit annual reports on arrest-related deaths to the Governor and the Legislature.
These reforms come after several days of protests across the country following the death of George Floyd. Floyd died while being arrested by Minneapolis Police officers.