Nearly 2,500 Felony Assaults Push NY Unions to Demand Buffer Zones
A 99-union coalition is pushing Albany to adopt Florida's Halo law as felony assaults on city employees near 2,500 this year.
A coalition of 99 New York labor unions is pressing state lawmakers to criminalize approaching public workers within 15 feet, a legislative push driven by nearly 2,500 felony assaults recorded against city employees this year alone. The proposal targets a gap in state law that currently permits individuals to stand directly outside the private residences of the officers who arrested them.
The New York State Public Safety Alliance outlined the demand during an Oct. 20 event, according to WNYW. The coalition extends well beyond police precincts. It includes firefighters, sanitation enforcement agents, environmental police, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus drivers, said Scott Munro, president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association.
“You’re gonna say ‘why MTA?'” Munro said. “It’s because they’re assaulted every day, they’re in their faces every day.” He cited the figure of almost 2,500 felony assaults on police officers and public servants in New York City so far this year.
The 15-foot buffer zone mirrors Florida’s recently enacted “Halo” law, which established criminal penalties for approaching first responders after a verbal warning. New York currently lacks an equivalent statute. It also has no specific anti-doxxing law preventing the publication of a public employee’s home address.
Louis Civello, president of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association, detailed how that legal void operates in practice. In early 2026, Civello arrested a protester for trespassing at his office. The individual subsequently obtained Civello’s home address and rented a billboard truck to park outside his house, Civello said.
“There are seven police precincts in Suffolk County that you can protest in front of if you so choose,” Civello said. “You only come to my home to terrorize my family, to get at me via my wife and my children.”
Under existing New York statutes, Civello noted, an individual convicted of rape could legally sit at the edge of the arresting officer’s driveway without violating any law. “If you want to look me up, look any police officer up, look any of us up, it’s a few clicks of a mouse,” he said.
Florida passed its Halo legislation earlier this year following a series of confrontations between civilians and deputies. The statute makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to knowingly approach within 25 feet of a first responder after being told to back away, escalating to a first-degree misdemeanor for repeat offenses. Texas and Indiana have considered similar measures, though none match the scale of the 99-union coalition now organizing in Albany.
Fox News Digital contacted the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association and the Detectives’ Endowment Association for further comment regarding the proposed legislation’s timeline.
