N.Y. CPL Law § 150.20 — New York Code / Act CPL / Part 2 / Title H / Article 150 / Section 150.20
Appearance ticket; when and by whom issuable
Status: in_force

§ 150.20 Appearance ticket; when and by whom issuable.\n  1. (a) Whenever a police officer is authorized pursuant to section\n140.10 of this title to arrest a person without a warrant for an offense\nother than a class A, B, C or D felony or a violation of section 130.25,\nformer section 130.40, section 205.10, 205.17, 205.19 or 215.56 of the\npenal law, or other than where an arrest is required to be made pursuant\nto subdivision four of section 140.10 of this title, the officer shall,\nexcept as set out in paragraph (b) of this subdivision, subject to the\nprovisions of subdivisions three and four of section 150.40 of this\ntitle, instead issue to and serve upon such person an appearance ticket.\n  (b) An officer is not required to issue an appearance ticket if:\n  (i) the person has one or more outstanding local criminal court or\nsuperior court warrants;\n  (ii) the person has failed to appear in court proceedings in the last\ntwo years;\n  (iii) the person has been given a reasonable opportunity to make their\nverifiable identity and a method of contact known, and has been unable\nor unwilling to do so, so that a custodial arrest is necessary to\nsubject the individual to the jurisdiction of the court. For the\npurposes of this section, an officer may rely on various factors to\ndetermine a person's identity, including but not limited to personal\nknowledge of such person, such person's self-identification, or\nphotographic identification. There is no requirement that a person\npresent photographic identification in order to be issued an appearance\nticket in lieu of arrest where the person's identity is otherwise\nverifiable; however, if offered by such person, an officer shall accept\nas evidence of identity the following: a valid driver's license or\nnon-driver identification card issued by the commissioner of motor\nvehicles, the federal government, any United States territory,\ncommonwealth or possession, the District of Columbia, a state government\nor municipal government within the United States or a provincial\ngovernment of the dominion of Canada; a valid passport issued by the\nUnited States government or any other country; an identification card\nissued by the armed forces of the United States; a public benefit card,\nas defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section 158.00 of the\npenal law;\n  (iv) the person is charged with a crime between members of the same\nfamily or household, as defined in subdivision one of section 530.11 of\nthis chapter;\n  (v) the person is charged with a crime defined in article 130 of the\npenal law;\n  (vi) it reasonably appears the person should be brought before the\ncourt for consideration of issuance of an order of protection, pursuant\nto section 530.13 of this chapter, based on the facts of the crime or\noffense that the officer has reasonable cause to believe occurred;\n  (vii) the person is charged with a crime for which the court may\nsuspend or revoke his or her driver license;\n  (viii) it reasonably appears to the officer, based on the observed\nbehavior of the individual in the present contact with the officer and\nfacts regarding the person's condition that indicates a sign of distress\nto such a degree that the person would face harm without immediate\nmedical or mental health care, that bringing the person before the court\nwould be in such person's interest in addressing that need; provided,\nhowever, that before making the arrest, the officer shall make all\nreasonable efforts to assist the person in securing appropriate\nservices;\n  (ix) the person is eighteen years of age or older and charged with\ncriminal possession of a weapon on school grounds as defined in section\n265.01-a of the penal law;\n  (x) the person is eighteen years of age or older and charged with a\nhate crime as defined in section 485.05 of the penal law; or\n  (xi) the offense is a qualifying offense pursuant to paragraph (t) of\nsubdivision four of section 510.10 of this chapter, or pursuant to\nparagraph (t) of subdivision four of section 530.40 of this chapter.\n  2. (a) Whenever, pursuant to section 140.10 of this title, a police\nofficer has arrested a person without a warrant for an offense other\nthan a class A, B, C or D felony or a violation of section 130.25,\n130.40, 205.10, 205.17, 205.19 or 215.56 of the penal law or other than\nwhere an arrest was required to be made pursuant to subdivision four of\nsection 140.10 of this title, or (b) whenever a peace officer, who is\nnot authorized by law to issue an appearance ticket, has arrested a\nperson for an offense other than a class A, B, C or D felony or a\nviolation of section 130.25, 130.40, 205.10, 205.17, 205.19 or 215.56 of\nthe penal law pursuant to section 140.25 of this title, and such peace\nofficer has requested a police officer to issue and serve upon such\narrested person an appearance ticket pursuant to subdivision four of\nsection 140.27 of this title, or (c) whenever a person has been arrested\nfor an offense other than a class A, B, C or D felony or a violation of\nsection 130.25, 130.40, 205.10, 205.17, 205.19 or 215.56 of the penal\nlaw and such person has been delivered to the custody of an appropriate\npolice officer pursuant to section 140.40 of this title, such police\nofficer may, instead of bringing such person before a local criminal\ncourt and promptly filing or causing the arresting peace officer or\narresting person to file a local criminal court accusatory instrument\ntherewith, issue to and serve upon such person an appearance ticket.\n  3. A public servant other than a police officer, who is specially\nauthorized by state law or local law enacted pursuant to the provisions\nof the municipal home rule law to issue and serve appearance tickets\nwith respect to designated offenses other than class A, B, C or D\nfelonies or violations of section 130.25, 130.40, 205.10, 205.17, 205.19\nor 215.56 of the penal law, may in such cases issue and serve upon a\nperson an appearance ticket when he has reasonable cause to believe that\nsuch person has committed a crime, or has committed a petty offense in\nhis presence.\n