Two major things to give Patterson credit for

Today he will be signing a bill prohibiting the NYPD from storing the personal information--names, addresses, social security numbers--of individuals stopped and searched by the police, but against whom no further action is taken. According to the New York chapter of the ACLU, since 2004, the NYPD has stopped people more than three million times, 90% of whom did nothing wrong. This has resulted in what is basically a de-facto dragnet against blacks and Latinos, who, comprise 80% of those stopped. That's despite the fact that whites were slightly more likely to be found with drugs or weapons. The police will still be allowed to keep a database that contains "generic" information such as race, gender, and the location of the stop.

Paterson tried and failed to get marriage equality passed. But he did manage to reform the state's draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws. This doesn't redeem his other failures, but when it comes to criminal justice, Paterson has really made a difference in New York.