City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is eager to cement her legacy with an initiative that may inadvertently hasten departures from the NYPD.

Her focus is on pushing through legislation that would grant the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) direct access to police bodycam footage servers. But the question remains: what is the underlying motive?

Adams argues that the proposal aims to streamline investigations into allegations of police misconduct and brutality. However, the bill lacks provisions for additional resources to help the CCRB manage the flood of data effectively.

It’s important to note that the NYPD is renowned as one of the most professional law enforcement agencies globally, with exceptionally low incidences of force usage, including drawing weapons.

Furthermore, city officers are subject to oversight not only by the CCRB but also through various court-appointed monitors, Internal Affairs, and, if necessary, state and federal prosecutors.

So where is the need for instant CCRB access to the footage?

If Adams is peeved at how long the department takes to comply with the board’s requests (the department says it averages just eight days), maybe she should see about adding some NYPD funding to speed things up: The simple fact is that sorting through mountains of video data files and then vetting the footage to comply with a host of privacy laws takes time.

Indeed, the legal issues alone (this is a first-in-the-nation initiative) will likely tie up Adams’ “legacy” measure for months or years, not to mention the time to train CCRB staff in accessing the data.

And why would the CCRB need real-time access to all officers’ footage, anyway? It’s only supposed to open investigations in response to actual misconduct complaints, not go on fishing expeditions.

The impact on police morale is obvious (at least, to anyone who isn’t a council progressive): As PBA President Patrick Hendry put it: “Who wants to work in a system where people who don’t value or understand your work are given direct, real-time access to second-guess your every move?”

This isn’t Adams’ first anti-policing rodeo: Back in 2023, she rammed through the How Many Stops Act into law (over Mayor Eric Adams’ veto), dumping hours of mindless paperwork on every officer who dares to actually talk to the public in the course of his or her duties.

The department has only recently gotten recruitment to exceed the pace of cop retirements and resignations, and the advent of the Mamdani mayoralty is already likely to push more officers out the door — a loss of irreplaceable experience.

Adrienne Adams’ legacy, in short, will be a Police Department less able to do its job of keeping New Yorkers safe; a very strange source of pride, indeed.