Council Member Carr on police hearing protection pilot program

Councilmember Carr, followed by Zhuang.

Thank you, Majority Leader.

You don't have to be in New York City long to know that it's a city alive with noise.

It's filled with loud traffic, blaring sirens, deafening music, booming construction, and yelling, chanting people at our public gatherings by our fellow New Yorkers who are never short on opinions.

Hopefully we all have a place to get away and escape all that deafening noise, but our police officers can't.

Many studies, including one recently done by the National Institutes of Health, have found that police officers are particularly at risk of acute or chronic hearing damage.

Another has found that 34% of law enforcement officers suffer noise-induced hearing loss or tinnitus.

significantly higher rate than other occupations and more than twice the rate of the general public.

That is why the chair of our public safety council member Feliz and I are introducing introduction 997 a bill to create a pilot program that would require the NYPD to provide in-ear electronic hearing protection equipment to our officers

which would reduce the decibels of excessively loud noise while also allowing them to hear their surroundings and maintain situational awareness.

The bill would also require the NYPD to publish a report on the pilot program's effectiveness and whether it should be made permanent and expanded.

In the future, this may be a program that could be rolled out to other first responders as well.

These devices can not only save thousands of police officers from unnecessary hearing damage and loss, but also save the taxpayers from the medical costs of treating this chronic health problem.

So I urge my colleagues to sign on to our legislation and help us protect the hearing of those brave men and women who protect us all.

Thank you.