NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — New rules for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the watchdog tasked with overseeing the NYPD, give the agency more power to investigate police.
The expanded rules focus on body cameras, bias-based misconduct, transparency and agency autonomy.
The CCRB now has a Racial Profiling and Bias-Based Policing unit dedicated to investigating racial profiling and other bias-based complaints.
The City Council amended the city charter last year to empower the agency to investigate discriminatory policing under its abuse of authority mandate.
“These expanded powers for the CCRB are momentous and a key step forward into increasing accountability in this City. Black and Brown New Yorkers should not be policed differently because of their skin color or zip code,” said CCRB Interim Chair Arva Rice. “I am so grateful to the CCRB staff for their hard work in fighting for this expanded jurisdiction and to the Board for their diligence in the process of changing these rules. These new powers will require close cooperation with the NYPD and we are working with them on determining new processes and access to important documents and data so that we can begin our work and fulfill our charter mandate.”
The agency can now investigate body worn camera misuse as well — also under its abuse of authority jurisdiction.
According to the CCRB, the agency has rejected over 1,200 allegations of body worn camera misuse over the course of the past five years because it didn’t have the power to investigate.
In a change that shifts the burden of responsibility from victims to the city, the agency will now be able to self-initiate complaints.
If evidence of misconduct is found, the Executive Director and Chair can now decide to open an investigation.
In the past, if there was video of officer misconduct, for example, the agency would have to wait for a civilian to file a complaint. Now, the CCRB can start investigating autonomously.
The agency also updated terminology to be more transparent and clear to the public.
“In order to advance accountability, public trust and safety, the CCRB must be equipped with the necessary authority to investigate police abuses and misconduct,” said City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. “These new rules that provide CCRB with the power to investigate allegations of discriminatory policing and body camera misconduct, as well as to self-initiate complaints, are positive steps forward for public safety in New York City. It is imperative that civilian oversight holds NYPD officers accountable to New Yorkers, because police misconduct undermines the ability to make our neighborhoods safer, especially when it goes inadequately addressed.”
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