all violations when the defendant is required to appear in the
Criminal Court’s Summons Part or appeals a conviction for a
violation from the Summons Part to the Appellate Term. The
District Attorney may delegate ‘‘the prosecution of petty crimes
or offenses’’ to other public officers, as long as he remains aware
of all delegated prosecutions. (People v Soddano, 86 NY2d 727,
728 [1995].) The MOU requires the Police Department to
provide to the District Attorney a monthly report of all
delegated prosecutions. (Verified petition & complaint, exhibit
A ¶ 2.)
On March 7, 2016, respondent Police Department issued a
summons to petitioner Jeffryes charging her with crossing a
city roadway against a pedestrian traffic signal, a violation of
34 RCNY 4-03 (c) (3). On the same day respondent Police
Department issued two summonses to petitioner Winsor. One
charged her with disorderly conduct by congregating in a pub-
lic place and refusing to comply with a police officer’s order to
disperse, a violation of Penal Law § 240.20 (6). A second
charged her with walking on a city roadway adjacent to a
sidewalk available for safe use, a violation of Vehicle and Traf-
fic Law § 1156 (a).
Petitioners allege that police officers are the complainants
and sole witnesses to the alleged offenses charged in the sum-
monses and that no prosecutor interviewed these complainants
and arrived at an independent judgment whether to prosecute
the charges. (Verified petition & complaint ¶¶ 19, 25-27.) At
demonstrations and protests such as where the alleged offen-
ses by petitioners occurred, Police Department attorneys
themselves also may be witnesses, are at the scene providing
legal advice to the police officers regarding arrests, and then
undertake the District Attorney’s function preparing the