Strengthening Civilian Complaint Review Board - Mayor Dinkins Legacy

NYC voters approve tougher oversight of NYPD

By Tina Moore and Carl Campanile
New York Post
November 5, 2019

New York City voters passed a ballot measure Tuesday that will boost a government watchdog’s oversight of the police department — coming just a day after the resignation of Police Commissioner James O’Neill and after years of tense cop-community relations.

The amendment to the city constitution gives the Civilian Complaint Review Board more power to investigate cops it suspects lied to the panel regarding alleged brutality or other misconduct.

CCRB Chairman Fred Davie said New Yorkers voted in reforms “for greater police accountability in their city.”

“This slate of reforms will make the CCRB more efficient, make discipline more transparent, and bolster public confidence in the integrity of the agency’s process,” he said.

But police unions fired back that the public’s decision undermined cops.

“Today the NYPD was stabbed in the back by the very same people we swore to protect. With bail reform taking effect in January of 2020 and the passing of CCRBs political power grab, New Yorkers can only expect the NYPD to provide paralyzed policing on city streets,” said Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins.

O’Neill — who is leaving to take a private-sector gig in California — had been heard repeatedly warning others in law-enforcement that “It’s only going to get worse” under the changes, police sources have told The Post.

The revision also expands the membership of the CCRB from 13 to 15, adding an appointment by the city public advocate and one selected jointly by the mayor and city council speaker, who would serve as the chair.

The new law also would potentially provide the CCRB more manpower to investigate cops by requiring that its staff headcount count be equal to 0.65 percent of the NYPD’s number of uniformed officers.

Moreover, the law requires that the police commissioner provide the CCRB with a written explanation when he disagrees or ignores discipline recommendations made by the agency or the Police Department’s Deputy Commissioner for Trials.

The commissioner often disregards the recommendations of discipline by the CCRB, records show.

Police critics have long complained that the CCRB has been a toothless agency.

But police advocates said toughened CCRB oversight is overkill, coming at a time when the NYPD is already scrutinized by a federal monitor and an independent inspector general within the city Department of Investigation.

It also comes at a time when thugs have openly assaulted and disrespected police officers, including a series of water dousing incidents over the summer.

Meanwhile Albany and City Hall approved laws more friendly to criminal defendants such as a no-bail policy.

Also, Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo was fired in August for his role in the death of Eric Garner during an altercation five years prior that enraged the city.

Garner’s July 17, 2014, death became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement after cellphone video captured him repeatedly yelling “I can’t breathe!” while taken to the ground by Pantaleo and arrested on suspicion of illegally selling loose cigarettes on Staten Island.

Cops were furious that O’Neil fired him following a disciplinary hearing.

Police advocates the slammed the CCRB’s new powers as counterproductive.

Detectives Endownment Association president Michael Palladino fumed, “The CCRB investigations are already bias based so now they will have more taxpayer money to expand their witch-hunts. Another reason for cops to pause and think before getting involved which in the long run is not good for the public or the police”

The CCRB has a long and bumpy history going back to the 1950s, when only police, not civilians, served on the panel to probe cops accused of brutality and other misconduct.

Nearly 40 years later in 1993, former Mayor David Dinkins and the City Council approved a law creating an all-civilian review board following stormy debate.

The push for an all civilian board gained support in 1988 after cops were seen on video beating protesters with clubs in Tompkins Square Park while enforcing a park curfew amid complaints of rampant drug use.

The agency was also granted subpoena power in 1993. While the CCRB’s budget has increased over the year, police reform groups have long complained that the agency has been underfunded and has been unable to handle the large number of complaints it has received.