NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Mayor Bill de Blasio announced new measures Wednesday to increase transparency and accountability at the NYPD, including posting the disciplinary records of every active member of the force online and speeding up the time it takes to make decisions about disciplining officers.
De Blasio said the fact that the nation's largest police force was making the changes sends a message to the entire nation "that transparency is not something to fear but to embrace."
"I have a fundamental belief that accountability is the way forward," the mayor said. "These standards will now change the entire discussion right down to the grassroots, right down to every block of New York City and give us a foundation for which to move forward."
De Blasio said the city was taking three steps to increase transparency around the discipline of NYPD officers.
First, the mayor said the city will begin publishing all trial decisions going forward, something that wasn't allowed under the decades-old 50-a police secrecy law, which was repealed in Albany this month.
Second, the mayor said the city will post information on every pending disciplinary case at the NYPD—a total of 1,100 cases—by July. Among the information available will be the names of officers, the charges, the hearing date and the resolution of the case.
Third, de Blasio said the city is in the process of putting the disciplinary records of every active member of the police force online in one place—a move he called "historic." The information will include past trial decisions and other formal actions that came out of disciplinary proceedings.
"It will be online. It will be easy to use and access," de Blasio said.
De Blasio also said two major changes were being made for cases involving officers in which a civilian suffered a "substantial injury."
First, in cases where an officer will be modified (badge and gun taken away) or suspended, the decision to do so will be made by the NYPD within 48 hours.
Second, the Internal Affairs Bureau must finish its full investigation for immediate decisions about the disciplinary process in two weeks or less.
"It has never been this quick in the history of this city, and it has never been based on an open transparent timeline like I'm discussing now," the mayor said.
De Blasio also announced that the city's new policy of releasing all audio and video from police body cameras in relevant cases would be applied retroactively, "going back to the first day that we used body-worn cameras for our officers."
The mayor said all audio and video for cases that meets the standards will be released retroactively in the coming weeks.
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