Leaked Documents Expose NYPD's Long-Running Lack Of Officer Discipline
from the having-had-it-stuck-to-him,-The-Man-retreats-uneasily dept
Buzzfeed has obtained files the NYPD never wanted the public to see. This isn't the result of a protracted public records battle, but rather the work of an anonymous whistleblower. Presumably, those further up the chain of command are already familiar with the department's disinterest in holding officers accountable, so there's no whistleblowing outlet there. Also, presumably, the Civilian Complaint Review Board's hands are tied and it cannot hand out disciplinary reports for officers never formally disciplined. So, leak it is. And what a leak it is.
Secret files obtained by BuzzFeed News reveal that from 2011 to 2015 at least 319 New York Police Department employees who committed offenses serious enough to merit firing were allowed to keep their jobs.
Many of the officers lied, cheated, stole, or assaulted New York City residents. At least fifty employees lied on official reports, under oath, or during an internal affairs investigation. Thirty-eight were found guilty by a police tribunal of excessive force, getting into a fight, or firing their gun unnecessarily. Fifty-seven were guilty of driving under the influence. Seventy-one were guilty of ticket-fixing. One officer, Jarrett Dill, threatened to kill someone. Another, Roberson Tunis, sexually harassed and inappropriately touched a fellow officer. Some were guilty of lesser offenses, like mouthing off to a supervisor.
At least two dozen of these employees worked in schools. Andrew Bailey was found guilty of touching a female student on the thigh and kissing her on the cheek while she was sitting in his car. In a school parking lot, while he was supposed to be on duty, Lester Robinson kissed a woman, removed his shirt, and began to remove his pants. And Juan Garcia, while off duty, illegally sold prescription medication to an undercover officer.
In every instance, the police commissioner, who has final authority in disciplinary decisions, assigned these officers to “dismissal probation,” a penalty with few practical consequences. The officer continues to do their job at their usual salary. They may get less overtime and won’t be promoted during that period, which usually lasts a year. When the year is over, so is the probation.
There's an NYPD Snowden out there somewhere, exposing the dirty non-secret that is the continued lack of accountability within the largest police force in the nation. New York's Finest, the NYPD calls itself, ignoring the fact that it does almost nothing to ensure it's only staffed with the finest human beings.
Sure, 319 out of 40,000 officers is only a small percentage, but there's nothing in Buzzfeed's blockbuster article that indicates what it's seen is all that's available. What it has seen is only a small part of a larger whole. These are the probation files, which don't include officers dismissed. Add that to the mix and the total rises to over 1,400 officers caught breaking laws and policies -- many of which were allowed to resign while charges were still pending, keeping their records clean and their pension plans intact.
This exposé of kid glove treatment for repeat offenders contains this PR-friendly statement from the deputy commissioner of the office charged with handling internal disciplinary issues. Kevin Richardson, speaking on behalf of the job he's failing to do, made assertions clearly contradicted by the documents in Buzzfeed's possession.
“The department is not interested in terminating officers that don't need to be terminated. We're interested in keeping employees and making our employees obey the rules and do the right thing,” he told BuzzFeed News. “But where there are failings that we realize this person should be separated from the department, this police commissioner and the prior police commissioner have shown a willingness to do that.”
From what's being reported here, "separating" someone from the department is a last resort. And when it is done, it's often done in a way that allows bad officers to move on to other police departments or sit at home collecting a pension for a job well poorly done. Richardson is in denial, but at least he's a bit more reasonable than the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.
Al O’Leary, a spokesperson for the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the largest police union representing NYPD officers, had a different message: “We’re not going to talk to you about anything negative as far as any of our officers.”
Well, if you won't, others will. Burying your head in the filthy sand doesn't make the problem go away. And it certainly doesn't put an entity willing to stand up for any officer, no matter how egregious their misconduct, in a better light.
Case in point: Officer Raymond Marrero. Marrero is still employed by the NYPD despite being named in four serious complaints in his first six years and racking up $900,000 of lawsuit settlements. This colorful story is just one of Marrero's many abusive escapades.
[I]n early 2009, a former police department volunteer named Louis Deluca confronted a man who, Deluca found out, had groped his brother’s 17-year-old girlfriend. The man took off with his friends, just as Marrero was pulling up. “I was telling him, 'There's some guys that groped a family member of mine,’” Deluca said. “‘They're right around the corner.’”
Marrero and his partner told Deluca to shut up, Deluca said. Incredulous, Deluca called Marrero a cunt. The officers pushed him to the ground and arrested him, according to a lawsuit Deluca later filed.
Back at the precinct, as Deluca was being taken out of the car, Marrero struck him with his police baton, opening up a gash on the top of his head. Another officer said there was so much blood, they had to clean it up with a mop. It took 12 staples at the hospital to close the wound.
In a deposition, Deluca said Marrero told him “You can’t disrespect us in the street like that.” Deluca received a $398,000 settlement, of which Marrero was ordered to pay $4,000.
Marrero pled guilty to several internal charges during this six-year period, including deploying excessive force and lying to department investigators. Despite this, Commissioner Ray Kelly felt Marrero still added value to the force. He was placed on probation and lost 45 vacation days, but was never terminated or asked to resign. An outside commission on police corruption reviewed these files and suggested Marrero be fired, as he "lacked the temperament necessary to be a police officer." This suggestion was ignored.
There's nothing about local laws or NYPD policies that encourage any sort of positive change. The NYPD says local laws allow it to withhold disciplinary records from the public. Disciplinary trials for officers are open to the public… so to speak. They're held without prior announcement of schedules or locations. They're presided over by a police official appointed by the NYPD Commissioner, rather than a neutral adjudicator. And if a top cop decides an accused cop should be terminated, the Commissioner can overturn the ruling. (And even if the Commissioner allowed the discipline to stay in place, there's a good chance the PBA would get the ruling overturned.)
A closed disciplinary does no favors for the public. Unsurprisingly, it does no favors for police officers, either. Bad cops become worse cops as no one's willing to engage in serious deterrence and the system itself is often used to retaliate against good cops who blow the whistle on bad behavior or sue the department for discriminatory practices. Ultimately, no one's accountable to anyone, despite everyone involved being a public servant.
This leak will likely provoke some changes within the department, but with zero oversight, the positive changes likely won't last. My money's on an internal investigation into the leak being the largest expenditure of time and effort as a result of this exposé.
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Filed Under: nypd, police, police misconduct
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police unions - the root of all problems
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-police-union-suit-seeks-curb-ccrb-oversight- article-1.3872941
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Re: police unions - the root of all problems
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Re: Re: police unions - the root of all problems
That's the problem with public employee unions. They're supposed to be accountable to the citizenry, not rewriting policy rules to hide criminal behavior. That's not "strength," it's corruption.
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Re: Re: Re: police unions - the root of all problems
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'Congrats, your union wants you around. No-one else does though'
Every union need to be that strong.
It's not 'strength' to hold the position that it doesn't matter what you do, they'll fight to keep you employed(and even fight to keep you from being investigated as the AC above points out), especially when it comes with a very real cost in the loss of trust from the public they have to interact with on a daily basis, since the public knows that the 'bad apples' will not and cannot be removed in large part because of the union.
Maybe it's just me but if I were paying dues to a group meant to help me, while keeping me from unjustly being fired would be a part of what I would expect, not doing everything possible to make my reputation toxic with those I need to interact with would also be on the list.
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Re: police unions - the root of all problems
Agreed. People who are paid with funds that were stolen from the public effectively at gunpoint have no right to organize, strike, or negotiate.
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There's an NYPD Snowden out there somewhere
/s
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Changes
It sure will - they'll crack down on leaks extra hard.
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Re: Changes
The focus from LEO and gov groups is never to address the problems revealed. It's to punish the leaker and silence any inspired by it while distracting the audience of any investigative articles.
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In defense of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association
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Sure, 319 out of 40,000 officers is only a small percentage
And if even a modest percentage of the remaining 39,689 officers wanted to do something about these 319 it would be trivial to do so. Even 10-20% of the remaining cops choosing to walk out until such a time as these cops were fired would be enough to bring the department to its knees (one way or the other.)
But please, tell me again how most cops are good.
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Even if it's a small percentage
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Re: Even if it's a small percentage
There may be only a few officers who are bad enough to come to the attention of the public, but then the failure of the other police officers to discipline those officers makes them complicit in those activities. And therefore they too are bad.
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Re: Re: Even if it's a small percentage
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Yeah.
The NYPD needs to be treated like an infected computer. Just flatten and reinstall the whole thing, OS and everything. Fire and rehire everyone from scratch; only way to be sure.
Preferrably the firing process would involve placing them within said fire, but that's just the despotic psychopath in me coming out. I can settle for putting them in a cell with some friendly folk who will welcome them with open... somethings.
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Re:
I'd settle for investigations by an unbiased third party with the power to issue demands and the willingness to hand out punishments when those demands were refused. Charges, civil or criminal as appropriate with the trial handled by again by unbiased third parties, and a permanent blacklist from any public office or position for those found guilty of abuse of power/authority(in addition to any fines and/or jail time).
No need to sink to their level, just clear out the extensive rot and leave the threat of another purge hanging over the heads of the replacements in the hopes that they will act more appropriately. And if not? Rinse and repeat.
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Re: Re:
My thinking is that if even one person can screw it up for everyone, they'll be too busy beating the crap out of each other to make sure they don't get caught beating up any civilians.
Paranoia drives their decisions already, let's make them afraid of the system just as much as we're afraid of them.
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That's because New York's Finest is advertising, not a promise.
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New York's a lost cause for your 2nd
Amendment rights already .
Just wait till this spreads across the whole country .
This is what your willing to throw away your rights for ?
Armed thugs to rule over you with no recourse ?
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Re:
It was not force of arms that caused the Soviet Union or the various regimes in Eastern Europe to fall, but rather the force of Ideas. Political organization may be slower, but it is generally safer for society.
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Re:
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