NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A new report by the New York Civil Liberties Union found less than 1% of NYPD officers faced any serious punishment after misconduct cases were probed by the city's independent review board.
The NYCLU's study, "COP OUT: Analyzing 20 Years of Records Proving NYPD Impunity," examined 180,700 complaints with the Civilian Complaint Review Board from the start of 2000 to April 2021, involving over 59,000 incidents and over 35,000 active or former NYPD officers, concluding that officers were disciplined 4,283 times.
According to their data, only 2% received some type of discipline from the NYPD, and less than 1% received "serious discipline," including losing vacation days, suspension, probation or termination.
In 74% of cases deemed improper, the NYPD was found to have overridden the board, imposing a lesser punishment or none at all, while 33% of Black officers were more likely to receive serious discipline than white officers.
People of color, including Black, "Latinx", Asian, Indian-American, are three times more likely to be identified as the injured party at the hands of police misconduct complaints than white people.
"This report lays out what the NYPD and its unions were desperate to conceal: there is overwhelming evidence that the vast majority of NYPD police misconduct – including serious and violent acts – goes unpunished," the NYCLU said. "Further, the abuse doled out by NYPD officers is overwhelmingly directed at New Yorkers of color, particularly young people of color."
However, the NYPD defended their actions in a statement, adding it "examines a 20-year period during which many changes occurred."
They added, "because of improvements made by the NYPD and CCRB in the last eight years of collaboration, investigations have improved, processes have been streamlined and cooperation has increased between the two agencies ... For 2020, NYPD disciplinary cases resolved at trial had a conviction rate of 73%."
The NYCLU's report argues the department needs to be more forthcoming about its "misconduct records in possession," stripping power from the NYPD commissioner to be the final authority, among other recommendations.
"[The commissioner's] incredible, unaccountable, and easily abused authority makes the NYPD less effective and more dangerous because it leads to misconduct going unpunished and allows officers who have harmed New Yorkers to continue to patrol the streets," the organization said.
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