Civilian Complaint Board Finds The Public And Their Cell Phones Are Foisting Some Accountability On The NYPD

from the the-camera-is-on-the-other-eye...-or-something dept

There's probably not much the NYPD will like about the latest CCRB (Civilian Complaint Review Board) report, but then again, the CCRB isn't really there to serve up the sort of stuff it likes. What it will discover is that some form of accountability is now inevitable, rather than remaining a lofty ideal thrust in its general direction by a handful of activist groups and politicians.

Cameras are changing the way complaints are investigated. The report notes that video footage relevant to CCRB investigations is leading to more substantiated complaints.

Under the preponderance of evidence standard that the CCRB must use in evaluating cases, the increased prevalence of video in force cases has led to an increased percentage of cases where CCRB can substantiate the use of improper or excessive force. The percentage of substantiated force complaints with video evidence increased from 15% in 2012, to 26% in 2013, 34% in 2014, and 45% in the first half of 2015.

Substantiated cases of abuse of authority, discourtesy, and offensive language increasingly have contained video evidence: 6% of such cases in 2012 had video evidence, as compared to 23% during the first half of 2015.

So, not great news for the NYPD. While it is seeing an overall drop in complaints (thanks largely to the scaling back of stop-and-frisk), more and more cases are being decided in favor of citizens, thanks to camera footage, most of which has been obtained by the citizens themselves. (Note that most of what's detailed in this report occurred before the NYPD's body cam pilot program began.)

While the ubiquity of cameras has begun to force a certain amount of restraint on police officers, it hasn't been able to cure them of all their bad habits.

In the first half of 2015, the highest substantiation rate by allegation was for retaliatory summons and retaliatory arrest, which were substantiated at a rate of 70% and 58%, respectively.

And despite everyone and their mother being able to produce footage, officers just keep on lying.

In the first half of 2015, the CCRB closed investigations that noted 19 allegations of false official statement, 18 of which stemmed from incidents that occurred in 2014. Those 19 allegations of false official statement are on pace to far exceed the 26 allegations noted in 2014. The reason for the significant increase is primarily the result of video evidence.

On the bright side, the number of cameras in use at any given time is likely discouraging a few would-be complainants from filing bogus paperwork.

In the first half of 2015, civilian complaints against the police decreased by 22%, as compared to the first half of 2014. The CCRB received 2,092 complaints from January through June 2015, as compared to 2,698 for the same time period in 2014. This is the lowest number of complaints since 2001.

Now for more bad news: the thing about "bad apples?" Not just a stereotype.

More than 80% of NYPD officers have had no complaints in the last 18 months, whereas 14% of officers are responsible for 100% of all complaints. Five percent of officers on the force—about 1,800—are responsible for 80% of the force complaints.

There's a good chance their fellow officers know who these problematic cops are. And yet, they remain employed. NYPD officials absolutely know who these officers are. And yet, it would appear a great many of them are still employed. If the CCRB is going to be effective, and if the NYPD brass wants to be taken seriously when it claims to care about ensuring New York's Finest only contains the finest, then these numbers will need to drop by next year's report -- both in terms of overall complaints and the number of still-employed officers generating a majority of complaints.

Filed Under: accountability, ccrb, civilian complaint review board, mobile phones, nypd, police, transparency