The number of people arrested in New York City for low-level offenses who are being put through the system rather than being given desk appearance tickets rose sharply in the first two months of 2025, a trend the Legal Aid Society is linking to two in-custody deaths.
In January and February, according to a snapshot of the trend, the number of people put through the system for minor drug possession has spiked 59% and the number of people held to arraignment on non-criminal violations has jumped 188%, figures cited by the Society show.
The public defense group pointed to the statistics Monday in calling on the city’s inspector general, which has oversight of the NYPD, to open an investigation into whether the department is violating a law requiring desk tickets to be issued for a range of low-level arrests like shoplifting, possession of small amounts of drugs and non-criminal violations.
“The NYPD’s practice of conducting full custodial arrests and detaining New Yorkers who should be issued appearance tickets and released represents a blatant violation of New York law,” wrote Meghna Philip, director of the Society’s Special Litigation Unit. “And this practice is subjecting vulnerable New Yorkers to unnecessary arrests and risks to their health and safety, including death.”
The NYPD did not immediately return a request for comment.
The letter ties the trend to the two recent in-custody charges — that of Soso Ramashvili on March 21 in a holding pen in Brooklyn Criminal Court, and a Senegalese man whose identity has not been released in a similar holding pen in Manhattan Criminal Court on March 26.
Under criminal procedure law 150.20, the police are supposed to issue desk appearance tickets ordering a suspect to return to court at a future date for many low-level charges. The law contains a number of exceptions, the chief one being that police can hold people who they cannot immediately identify.
But, as the society points out, the law also says “[t]here is no requirement that a person present photographic identification in order to be issued an appearance ticket in lieu of an arrest,” and that a “person’s self-identification” can be sufficient.”
According to figures cited by the Society, the number of people arrested for misdemeanor drug possession who were put through the system rose 59% in January and February 2025 compared to the same months in 2024 — 2,086 arrests versus 1,312.
Similarly, 248 people arrested for non-criminal violations were put through the system in the first two months of 2025, compared to just 86 people in the same two months in 2024 — an increase of 188%.
And, the society states in the letter, 75% of petit larceny suspects were put through the system in the first two months of 2025, compared to just 45% on average in 2021.
The letter mentions several specific examples of the trend appearing in cases involving the subway system. In one case, a man with no prior record was charged with disorderly conduct for taking up two seats on an R train. He did not have photo ID but gave his name and date of birth to the officer.
The man ended up spending 24 hours in custody before he was arraigned. A judge immediately dismissed the case.
A second person was arrested for taking up two seats on an F train. He was not given an appearance ticket even though he showed photo ID. That case was also dismissed.
On March 22, the letter states, 13 people were arraigned in Brooklyn for failing to pay their subway fare — when they all should have been released with appearance tickets, the Society claims.
Ramishvili, 32, had been in custody for roughly three days and had gone back and forth to a hospital before he died, the Daily News previously reported. The West African man had been in custody for a shorter period.
The city medical examiner’s office has yet to issue a cause of death in either case.
