The New York Police Department has dismissed hundreds of civilian complaints of police misconduct this year without looking at the evidence.
The cases were fully investigated and substantiated by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the city’s police watchdog agency, and sent to the NYPD for disciplinary action. These include police erroneously searching vehicles and homes and using excessive force against New Yorkers.
In one incident, a police officer punched a man in the groin, the watchdog found. In another case, an officer unreasonably assaulted a young man before another officer mistakenly stopped and searched him, according to the CCRB.
The incident involving the young man was one of dozens of stop-and-frisk complaints that the NYPD dismissed without review this year — a significant development as the department is still in the midst of a controversial court decision over the issue more than a decade ago. Policy implementation is under federal supervision.
The practice of terminating cases without review began three years ago as a way to deal with increasing caseloads as disciplinary deadlines approached. But ProPublica found that this has become more frequent under Police Chief Edward Caban.
The commissioner’s position may not last long. he is Pressure to resign His phone was seized as part of a federal corruption investigation. He also has face criticism Failure to hold officials accountable for misconduct.
Since he took office last July, the NYPD has closed more than 500 incidents without review, about half of the cases brought to it by the oversight board, according to an analysis of committee data. This year this proportion has climbed to nearly 60%. Under Caban’s predecessor, Keechant Sewell, the department faced roughly the same number of cases, but about 40 percent were discarded without review. (Neither Caban nor Sewell responded to requests for comment.)
The strategy is part of a broader pattern under Caban, who has repeatedly used the power of his office to intervene in misconduct cases brought by watchdogs. This summer, ProPublica and The New York Times detailed how commissioners used powers known as “reservations” to short-circuit Some of the most serious cases would otherwise face public disciplinary trials.
In these cases, Caban and his staff reviewed the cases and “withheld” those in which they believed the CCRB had made errors, often issuing little to no disciplinary action. Some incidents, such as police chokeholds and beatings of protesters with batons, were so serious that the commission concluded the officers may have committed crimes.
For low-profile matters, the board investigates and makes recommendations directly to the NYPD, which then decides what to do. The Department’s policy is that most cases received within three months (or 60 business days) of the disciplinary statute of limitations will not be reviewed.
“This is a huge problem and it’s deeply troubling,” said City Councilwoman Alexa Avilés, a sponsor of the police reform legislation. “What the department is saying is there isn’t enough time, so they’re not going to do anything at all. They’re using the statute of limitations to avoid liability.
The NYPD did not disclose to the public or civilians who complained of abuse that it had closed such cases. ProPublica obtained data on the practice from CCRB.
In response to questions, the department issued a statement defending its policy, saying “every case and officer is entitled to due process” and that the CCRB was not given enough time to handle the cases under statute, which requires that The charges are heard.
“The CCRB may take 486 days to review a case, but the Department may not take 60 days, reflecting a lack of appreciation for the thorough effort, analysis and diligent investigation these matters require,” the statement read.
When the CCRB sends a case to the NYPD, the NYPD conducts a full investigation and provides evidence such as body camera footage and a report summarizing the findings. NYPD attorneys later reviewed the documents.
“The NYPD’s claim that it takes more than 60 days to review every case it receives from the CCRB is irresponsible to the department and a disservice to its officers and the people of New York City,” said Pastor Fred Davie. Years ago, he still served as Chairman of the Oversight Committee. “Simply ignoring substantiated incidents of misconduct is truly untenable.”
The CCRB does have a history of being slow to process cases, but that’s largely thanks to the NYPD withhold evidence A 2020 ProPublica investigation found that from civil investigators.
In 2019, police shot and killed a Bronx man in his own apartment, which the department declined to disclose body camera footage Working with the Oversight Committee for over a year and a half. Because of the delay, the CCRB was unable to charge the officers within the statute of limitations. (This department has Promise to hand over body camera footage Within 90 days of the Board’s request.
This year, Caban announced that he would not impose any discipline on the killings. He approved an NYPD judge’s ruling that the oversight board acted too late.
“The CCRB is not perfect, but its goal is clearly accountability,” said Chris Dunn, legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “The NYPD clearly does not have that goal. When something goes wrong, the department’s pre-emptive Suppose the solution is to terminate the case.
The NYPD can take action on cases that are running out of deadlines. CCRB data shows the department has done so more than 600 times in the past three years.
Reform advocates say they are particularly troubled that, under Caban, the NYPD dismissed dozens of civilian complaints about stop-and-frisk without review. In 2013, a federal judge ordered the NYPD to end the discriminatory and illegal practice of stopping, questioning and frisking residents without reasonable suspicion.
“This is a last ditch effort,” said Shira Scheindlin, the former federal judge who issued the ruling that led to the federal consent decree.
Scheindlin told ProPublica that the NYPD has refused to even review many stop-and-frisk cases, demonstrating impunity for policing within the department. “Accountability is the whole purpose of my decision,” she said. “Now they say we can still do what we want on the streets. There are no consequences for bad decisions.
Since former police officer Eric Adams became mayor, stop-and-frisk has Climb to the highest level in the past ten years. Federal inspectors uncover ongoing pattern unconstitutional and Stop without a permit. the earlier one Federal Ombudsman Report It noted that the NYPD “failed to implement meaningful disciplinary action” after the CCRB discovered misconduct. The ombudsman said the NYPD “must be more respectful” of the agency’s investigations.
Adams, who had a reputation as a law-and-order policeman as mayor, has always had a strained relationship with the CCRB. Forced to leave recently The department’s chair was appointed after she criticized the department’s response to the board’s investigation. His administration also imposed a hiring freeze at the agency.
The agency said it has closed more than 700 cases of alleged misconduct this year without conducting investigations because of staff shortages.
“What I want to ask City Hall, City Council and the police chief is if this is really what they want to tell people in the community – that citizen complaints are going to be thwarted by these technical and bureaucratic measures,” David said.
In response to ProPublica’s reporting this year, city councilors called on the police chief deprived of reserved powers. Advocacy groups such as Greater New York Area “Black Lives Matter”calling on Caban to resign. There are also some people, like LatinoJustice, A lawsuit has been filed Questioning the department’s approach to misconduct cases. (The NYPD did not respond to requests for comment on the lawmakers’ appeal or the lawsuit.)
The mayor’s office pushed back against the criticism.
“Mayor Adams has spent his career fighting for public safety and police reform, which is why he and Commissioner Caban have made it clear they expect the Police Department to be professional, fair and impartial,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Police The Commissioner and NYPD leadership will continue to work hard to ensure the safety of New Yorkers and fair policing.”
So far this year, the department has dismissed more than 430 police misconduct cases without review, far more than in all of last year.
