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Michael Luscher and Justin Clifford, both 18, at the Staten Island Business Center to sign up for the city's municipal ID. January 12, 2015 (Staten Island Advance/Hilton Flores)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - A judge hearing the lawsuit against the city's municipal ID card program has extended the case yet again into February, keeping in place an order not to destroy the documents associated with IDNYC.

On Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Philip G. Minardo heard testimony from Ed Mullins, president of the NYPD's Sergeants Benevolent Association, and John Burnett, a former candidate for city comptroller with a banking background, both called as witnesses for the petitioners.

Minardo will decide whether Assembly members Ron Castorina Jr. and Nicole Malliotakis are right to request that the city maintain background documents or whether the city can move forward with its plans to destroy the copies of birth certificates, foreign and U.S. visas and passports, lease agreements, utility bills and other personal documents that 1 million New York City residents produced while applying for the ID card since January 2015.

Castorina and Malliotakis argue the records should be maintained for law enforcement investigating crimes. They also argue that destroying the documents would violate the Freedom of Information law that requires government documents be made available to the public upon request.

The city argues retaining the records for two years, as it has done, is enough, and there's no need to keep them longer.

Its lawyers argue in favor of the privacy interests of the residents who have personal documents on file in the city agency.

Since early December, the city ceased collecting copies of personal documents from people applying for the card.

Minardo hasn't indicated how he views the arguments, oftentimes scolding lawyers for both the Assembly members and the city when he doesn't like their questioning.

In court in St. George on Wednesday, Burnett, a Republican who ran for city comptroller in 2013, spoke about his belief that banks should not accept the municipal card as a valid form of ID.

The card, he argues, doesn't meet requirements for many large banks' risk-based profiles, and they should only accept the card as a secondary form of ID.

Burnett suggested the office of Comptroller Scott Stringer, his opponent in the 2013 election, should audit the IDNYC program.

Mullins also spoke Wednesday, a few weeks after writing a letter to Minardo, agreeing with Malliotakis and Castorina that the records should be retained for law enforcement when investigating crimes.

He said the ID program is a good one that helps bring undocumented immigrants out of the shadows and makes them more willing to report crimes.

"My concern with it is the destruction of data," he said. "Every little detail is of value" in an investigation.

He rejected an argument that NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller made on Jan. 5 when testifying on behalf of the city, saying retaining the documents may subject them to hacking.

That would make all other city records subject to hacking, Mullins argued.

"If he believes that, we should be doing something to prevent that," he said.

Minardo tasked attorneys for both sides with drafting post-hearing memos, including letters of support, and submitting them to him by Feb. 1. He said he will make a decision shortly thereafter.

Until then, the temporary restraining order on the city not to destroy the records remains in effect.