MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Monday, asking a court to order the DA to disclose records from a program that gives police access to apartment buildings for routine searches.
The civil rights organization said it was turned down for records under a Freedom of Information Law request to the DA's office, asking for the roster of buildings enrolled in its Trespass Affidavit Program, as it's called. The NYCLU said there were a growing number of complaints about police abusing access to enrolled buildings.
The NYCLU has "received numerous reports that the NYPD officers make unconstitutional, suspicionless stops" of residents in TAP buildings, according to the lawsuit.
The police have used the program as an excuse to arrest building visitors for trespassing, the NYCLU argued.
"People have raised serious concerns that the NYPD is using this program to bring its unlawful stop-and-frisk practices into apartment buildings – literally into people’s homes, "NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement. "These concerns can only be resolved through transparency, not stonewalling."
According to the lawsuit, the DA's office refused to turn over the records citing landlord privacy issues and public safety exemptions to the FOIL law, prompting the NYCLU's lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office declined to comment.
According to the DA's website, more than 3,200 buildings in Manhattan are enrolled in the voluntary program through which police are given keys to buildings and are authorized to make routine patrol rounds.
It is described as a deterrent for "constant foot traffic by unknown individuals" and is meant to keep drug dealers from taking over residential buildings.
Landlords and tenants associations are able to apply for the DA- and NYPD-run program that has existed since 1991.
