NYPD finally gets trespass-bust rule

IT TOOK nearly a year, but the NYPD has finally found its boundaries when it comes to making arrests for trespassing in apartment buildings.

A new Patrol Guide issued last week gives updated instructions to police on how to make arrests when entering private buildings that participate in the Trespass Affidavit Program — also known as Operation Clean Halls.

A federal lawsuit in 2012 accused the NYPD of busting too many black and Hispanic residents for trespassing in their own buildings.

Police said the initiative kept crime down and rid problem buildings of drug dealers.

The impasse was settled in March when Federal Judge Analisa Torres signed off on a training material addition that “clarifies the probable cause requirement.”

But it took nearly a year for lawyers to agree on wording that most clearly explains when police officers can arrest trespassers, sources said.

Torres listened to both sides before issuing her order on March 21.

Police can only make an arrest “if there is probable cause to believe the person committed a trespass,” she wrote in her addendum.

“A reasonable investigation is ordinarily necessary to determine whether probable cause exists,” it said.

Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union — which filed on behalf of the 2012 plaintiffs, — said he’s confident “officers can be properly trained to avoid unconstitutional arrests of building residents.”

The NYPD said the ruling simply reemphasizes what the department has always taught officers — that the burden of proof is on them, not the person being questioned, in determining whether a trespass arrest can be made.