Bill Would Require NYPD to Release Data on Shots-Fired Incidents

NEW YORK—The NYPD will have to make public any information about incidents in which someone fires a gun, even if no one is struck, under terms of a bill being considered by the City Council.

The Police Department currently posts on its website information about shooting incidents, defined as instances in which someone is injured or killed, and the number of shooting victims in those incidents.

It does not, however, release information about shots-fired incidents in which no one is struck, the Daily News reported last month.

That would change if the proposed local law, sponsored by Council members Oswald Feliz, D-Bronx, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, and Joann Ariola, R-Queens, passes.

“Our neighborhoods deserve transparency on the many challenges related to public safety, and this legislation will provide data on situations that can lead to future violence to keep neighborhoods safe,” Feliz said. “Our city has made progress on the issue of safety and this data will provide us information to take the progress even further.”

Ariola, who is also a member of the Public Safety Committee, said tracking shots-fired data is a proactive way to drive crime down further.

“When a gun is fired, even if no one is hit, someone was likely being targeted — and there is a clear warning that violence is escalating in a neighborhood,” Ariola said.

The NYPD had no comment on the bill, but previously said the data “is not as straightforward or accurate as…shooting victims and shooting incidents, as it can be recorded in different ways.”

Under the terms of the bill, which will be discussed at a hearing Wednesday, the NYPD each week would have to make public the date, time and location of each shots-fired incident, plus a description of the circumstances.

Officers learn of shots-fired events in various ways — mostly from 911 callers and ShotSpotter alerts. The bill would cover only those incidents police confirm, which typically occurs when ballistic evidence is found at the scene or video shows the shooting.

Through May 31, there were 247 shooting incidents in the city, down 6% from 262 at the same point last year. The number of shooting victims, 289, was down 7% from 311 last year.

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