New NYC Law Would Mandate Reporting On School Metal Detectors

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The New York City Council is expected to pass a bill requiring the school system to disclose how many students must pass through metal detectors to get to school.

The council will vote Wednesday on amendments to the 2011 Student Safety Act.

That law requires the police and the city Department of Education to issue reports twice a year with information including how many students are arrested and how many are suspended.

The amended law would require additional information to be reported, including how many schools have metal detectors.

Authorities would also have to report how many students are placed in handcuffs or other restraints.

Backers of the amended law rallied at City Hall on Tuesday.

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the amendments would plug the loopholes in the law.

"The New York City Department of Education was reporting that no children were ever handcuffed in schools; we knew that wasn't true because the Police Department handcuffs everybody that they arrest and some that they don't arrest," she told 1010 WINS. "So there was incomplete information. It wasn't broken down by school."

City Councilman Mathieu Eugene said the new data-reporting rules would increase transparency.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)