SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse Police have less than two months to make changes to the way they operate with you.
It's part of the Right-to-Know Act passed last week.
The Right-to-Know Act is designed to increase transparency between the Syracuse Police Department and city residents.
Chief Kenton Buckner said to get this done, it will take training and taxpayer money.
"I think some of the pre-existing issues were mistrust, whether that be perceived or actual accusations of discrimination or abuse of power on police," said Chief Buckner.
The new act will require police officers to identify themselves and provide a written form of identification, such as a business card, when conducting something like a traffic stop.
Chief Buckner said taking that first step to implementing this act is a "pretty heavy lift" for the police department.
"Make sure everyone is trained on the legislation, what they do under what circumstance, whatever resources we need when it comes to the cards we have to issue with all the appropriate information on it, and any pamphlet type of information that we hand the citizen for that interaction," Buckner said.
Budgets are already tight because of the pandemic. So who will be paying for the changes made to the police department?
"Well I would say the citizens ultimately pay for it," said Buckner.
The Right-to-Know Act only applies to the Syracuse Police Department. It does not apply to other law enforcement agencies like the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, who may be pulling people over within city limits.