Brooklyn DA Releases 10,000 Police Misconduct Records To Gothamist, Exposing Cops Prosecutors Don't Want In Their Courtrooms
from the copious-cop-shop-docs-copped dept
Nearly two years ago -- prior to the 2020 repeal of 50-a, the statute that codified law enforcement opacity in the state of New York -- the Brooklyn DA's office released part of its "Brady list" to Gothamist. The "Brady" (or "Giglio," depending on who's naming it) list tells prosecutors (and [supposedly] defense attorneys) which cops aren't to be trusted, thanks to previous perjury/severe misconduct/evidence-planting/etc. This keeps prosecutors from calling witnesses who can be easily impeached. And it helps defense lawyers know which government witnesses are ripe for undermining.
It's the latter reason that often keeps these lists shrouded in secrecy. While some law enforcement agencies are more than willing to share with prosecutors in order to keep convictions intact, they're far less willing to give the defense anything to work with. But some of this information can be obtained through public records requests. And some of it can be obtained through new transparency laws or court orders.
The list handed to Gothamist in 2019 was far from complete. Now with 50-a repealed, the information is flowing more freely. The NYPD is still doing what it can to withhold its own version of its Brady list, but that's not stopping others in possession of at least part of this list from releasing what they have on hand.
Once again, it's both the Brooklyn DA and Gothamist combining forces to provide more information about bad cops to the public. While others have attempted to compile Brady lists from public records requests, this proactive move by the Brooklyn DA's office far outpaces any independent collection of Brady-listed officers.
The latest publication by Gothamist contains 679 records in a searchable database compiled by Tarak Shah, a data scientist for the Human Rights Data Analysis Group. There are redactions, but they do not serve the NYPD's interests. As Shah notes in his statement accompanying this release, the redactions only cover information that "could have put those involved with investigating this story at risk."
More than 10,000 documents are now in the hands of Gothamist, courtesy of Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez. What's in there? Plenty of cop bullshit. Here are just a few highlights:
One officer had his honesty on the witness stand questioned by two separate judges in 2011. The next year, the NYPD busted him for asking colleagues to engage in ticket fixing. A few years later, yet another judge in another criminal case discredited portions of his sworn testimony.
Another officer “misrepresented” his record of military service to his colleagues, and was later caught by department investigators for making false statements about his decision to shut down the music at a community concert. The next year, the department closed a substantiated case against him for failing to notify the NYPD that he was involved in five “domestic incidents.”
A third officer was disciplined in 2013 for speeding through red lights, using NYPD computers to make numerous searches unrelated to work, and failing to notify the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau about serious misconduct or corruption allegations against several colleagues—a responsibility that NYPD officers take on when they join the force.
The only thing comparable to the size of this database is the one created by the NYPD in response to public pressure and the repeal of 50-a. But that's controlled by the NYPD, which is free to redact all sorts of information and make it deliberately unclear which officers have had complaints filed against them. The NYPD's database contains information on more officers, but the sortable fields do not include the number of complaints against an officer.
Instead, the NYPD has obscured this information and has chosen to highlight "Arrests Totals" and "Department Recognitions," which appears to indicate the department feels the end justifies the means. Only by clicking through on names can one access misconduct documents. But it's more miss than hit, which is good news for the NYPD (not many officers with complaints!) but worse for people seeking transparency and accountability. And it does not appear to contain records for officers who've been fired for misconduct or excessive force, allowing the NYPD to whitewash its troubled history.
If police departments are really serious about ridding themselves of the low-value employees holding them down, they'll be more like the Brooklyn DA and less like the NYPD. A bad cop helps no one. Outing and eliminating cops who jeopardize prosecutions will do more for public safety than all the spy tech, sentence enhancements, and "proactive" policing combined.
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Filed Under: 50-a, brady list, brooklyn, police, police misconduct
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Proud to be a Brooklynite.
My mom is active in politics. I'm willing to bet she had something to do with getting the current DA elected. (I'm not kidding!)
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Sorry Tim, but this is a values statement. Depending on what things the NYPD values, a "bad cop" (to you or me) may just be a "key supporting pillar for the upholding right & proper ideology" (or w/e passes that kind of drivel in their heads).
I can't tell you what the NYPD's leadership values, but from articles I've read about them, it probably doesn't look much like your values.
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Brady vs Giglio
As I understand it:
Brady: My client couldn't have done it, but the prosecutor didn't reveal why until after the trial.
Giglio: The prosecution's witness was a lying sack of shit and the prosecutor knew it, but the prosecutor didn't reveal that until after the trial.
They aren't equivalent, except in that the prosecution is obliged to reveal both sorts of information to the defense before the trial.
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good on him!
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Public sector unions are the problem. You will never solve the problem by throwing more politicians and more money at it.
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Re:
That’s applicable to the Police, but not other parts of the public sector. Take Finland and their schools, for example: what makes them so high-quality is because the teachers are valued and their compensation is reflected as such (though their education system produced Tero Pulkkinnen but he’s more of an exception than the rule in Finland, methinks).
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Good Cop / Bad Cop
So, instead of getting rid of a dirty cop, they just made sure it was a clean cop that testified.
A little good cop/bad cop.
One to hide or plant evidence, one to testify.
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Re: Re:
This isn't an article about Finnish education in general but a cursory internet search shows that the average Finnish teacher makes around 40k euros a year. This is less than the average American teacher and in a country where living expenses are about 30% higher. I'm not claiming to be an expert on Finnish education and I don't actually know how good their teachers/schools may or may not be, but I strongly doubt any education gap between US and Finnish students can be attributed to teacher pay.
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Re: Re: Re:
Fair enough.
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Fantasy
I wonder what would happen if all the crooked and bad cops got kicked and reported nationally.
Lets suggest,
To make things look bad because they were kicked, they Make/force other things to happen. Like more drive-by's, more house shootings, more traffic cops being hurt. and many other things.
What do you do with out of work, defaced police? Prison guards? Just to do their thing While guarding others??
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Re: Good Cop / Bad Cop
Just get he bad cop to sign the tickets with another Good cops name.
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complaint list
Only by clicking through on names can one access misconduct documents. But it's more miss than hit, which is good news for the NYPD (not many officers with complaints!) but worse for people seeking transparency and accountability.
if by using the LIST from this story... you wont find shit! i have seen a less then complete list and with the top 100 with sustained complaints. ALL of them had at least 5 or more SUSTAINED complaints! with the most being about 34 for ONE blue lies mafia criminal! what this tells WE THE PEOPLE is government doesn't care if the blue lies mafia beats, robs, kills or violates rights! as long as it's not on camera.... then something needs to be done.
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Re: Brady vs Giglio
That they aren't completely identical in all details is the kind of thing that only really matters if you're asking for qualified immunity.
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Re: Good Cop / Bad Cop
Needs some scare quotes: "clean" cop. In reality, dirty as soon as they decide to regurgitate statements from a known liar as if they're true.
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That site looks scrapable
I leave it to someone with more time than me to explore the NYPD link
https://nypdonline.org/link/2
and see how hard it is to go to the "disciplnary history" tab of the popup for each and every office and scrape any data.
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