Results tagged “civiliancomplaintreviewboard”

The Civilian Complaint Review Board might as well change its name to the Civilian Complaint Review Ignored. Complaints about police misconduct will hit a record high this year, but the CCRB's budget has been slashed. 26 investigators are being cut from the payroll, so half of the cases will be dropped because investigators can't meet the 18-month statute of limitations. It gets worse...

A study of data concerning NYPD stop and frisk practices was released by the Rand Corporation last Tuesday. Reactions to the report were so varied that it's difficult to say if Rand came to any conclusive findings whatsoever. The New York Times lede indicates that police are biased against blacks and Hispanics. "Whites and members of minorities have a roughly equal chance of being stopped by police officers and questioned on the street in New...

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a two alarm fire at 80 Washington St in Lower Manhattan; an aircraft emergency at JFK this morning; two pedestrians struck on E. 53rd St.; and a "possible A.I. job" (whatever that is) in Woodhaven.
• The NYCLU objected yesterday to the number of cases the Civilian Complaint Review Board substantiated. The board, which investigates police misconduct, only substantiated 5% of the cases, but that's actually higher than that of Washington D.C. and San Francisco.
• A 64-year-old Gambino capo was given a 15 year sentence for orchestrating the murders of a couple that robbed his social club. No news on whether Dominick "Skinny Dom" Pizzonia, who has 6 grandchildren, lectured the judge on how they did things in his day.
• Mom and pop may have it a little easier if the City Council gets its way. They are examining the idea of giving tax breaks to small businesses hoping to "preserve neighborhood character," something that Mayor Bloomberg may not sign if it gets to him.
• Judith Zuk, the former president of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, passed away over the weekend due to breast cancer. She served as president from 1990 until her retirement in 2005.
• Red Hook vendors and area eaters have lucked out. The Dept. of Parks and Recreation are letting the food vendors remain through October 21st when they traditionally end their season. New rules are expected to be laid out in the Fall that may prevent the vendors from returning next year.
• The hottest ticket in town? Not Oprah, not the US Open, but J.K. Rowling. She's coming to New York to read at Carnegie Hall for 1,600 lucky kids from NYC's public schools. She'll also be signing books and answering questions about the series to the lucky students. No tickets are available to the public.
• And coming to your computer - MTV is building "music world" a virtual Brooklyn and Lower East Side that replicates "hip" clubs. Bonus: no need to dress up while sitting at home late at night in front of the computer.

An example of how the review board and the police can differ can be seen in their views of a recent case in Brooklyn, in which two female employees locked themselves in a Laundromat, dialed 911 and reported seeing a menacing looking man outside. There had been a number of robberies in the neighborhood. When police officers arrived, a passer-by pointed out where the man had run off to; the officers found him and patted him down. The man, who was homeless, was released.

Continue reading "NYPD Going Easy on Officers' Alleged Misconduct"

The sex trial that almost had director Steven Soderbergh as a juror heard testimony from one of the prosecution's star witnesses. The Manhattan DA's office says that former Montessori school principal Lina Sinha had affairs with two very underage male students. One of the victims, now a 24-year-old police officer, testified that Sinha kissed him when he was upset after losing an academic competition in 1995. He was 13 at the time, while Sinha was 29; the officer testified, "I was very sad, and Lina kissed me on the mouth" in her school office.

At the podium with his highest approval ratings ever, Mayor Mike gave his annual State of the City address and outlined an agenda that will dictate his last three years in office and most likely, his legacy. Some of these items include passing $1 billion in tax cuts (including $750 million in property tax and eliminating sales tax on clothing and shoes), improving the school system, pursuing anti-gun laws, and continuing development projects across the city. In fact, his recommendations to continue school reform were the first things he mentioned, from further empowering principals to do a better job retaining good teachers (and getting rid of tenure), and shifting funding to students, instead of schools, and grading the schools themselves..

Remember last year's crazy Borough Park riot when police arrested a 75 year old Hasidic man for talking on a cellphone while driving? The police tried to arrested Arthur Schick, who resisted, and other Hasids got involved, started a protest and fires and trapped a cop in a car? Many Hasids were arrested, two cops were injured, and there were claims that police used racial epithets ("This is how we treat niggers" and "Get the f---ing Jews out of here") during the incident. Well, now one of the Hasidic men arrested is suing the NYPD for $11 million.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board issued a report that finds many police officers are only getting "slaps on the wrist" versus actual punishment after the CCRB brings cases against them. For instance, 75% of police officer who are "reprimanded for such offenses as improper searches usually got instructions on improving their conduct," which is 34% higher than three years ago. The "lenient" punishment is doled out when the offenses do not involve weapons or physical force. The NYPD says that the ability of the public to call 311 and make unsubstantiated complaint has played a part in the increase, though the CCRB says that they didn't think the complaints were to retaliate against certain officers. The Sun offered this explanation of how the CCRB works:

After a complaint is registered with the board, investigators interview witnesses, the complainant, and any police officers mentioned in the complaint. The board, which is made up of five mayoral designees, five City Council designees, and three police commissioner designees, then makes a decision on the case and recommends a level of punishment. Punishment usually ranges from verbal warnings to a period of suspension, known as "command discipline."

Continue reading "Report Says Police Get Off Too Easy"

The Civilian Complaint Review Board says that police cannot seize people's "police union courtesy cards" when people possess them lawfully. The CCRB found that 11 police officers were wrong to confiscate the cards, which many people believe will help them out if they are stopped by the police. "Effectiveness" of the cards aside, the CCRB's suggestion is for the police force to better educate officers about the cards.

Videotape is used in all sorts of police investigations. In fact, business owners (like bar owners) are encouraged to install video cameras in order to capture activity in case there is a crime. But what's interesting is that the police don't like the cameras - video or otherwise - pointed at them and seem to get upset when they see them. WCBS 2 did a report this dynamic. You can watch the video here, but here's an excerpt:

For example, on Aug. 25 Critical Mass bicycle protestors pedaled up Third Avenue near 40th Street. Police stopped the protestors, including Jacob Redding, who had a video camera. Twenty five seconds after one officer stopped him and held his arm, Redding said a second officer came from behind and knocked the camera out of his hand onto the ground, breaking it.

Continue reading "To the Videotape...Or Not, If the Cops Have Their Way"

Mayor Bloomberg released the 2006 Fiscal Year Mayor's Management Report yesterday. The MMR is the Mayor's way of being accountable for city initiatives and agencies, and during the press conference, the Mayor felt that there was still work to be done, saying, "Two-thirds of the things are going in the right direction. A third aren't going as fast as I'd like, or in the right direction.": Like what? The quality of streets has declined (which the Department of Transportation says is due to construction projects), the Civilian Complaint Review Board received 16% more complaints about police officers, structural fire response times increased and pest control exterminations dropped by 39%.

It's been two years since the MTA tried to propose a ban on subway photography and it's been over a year since the MTA and NYPD decided not to impose a ban. And it's been five months since the MTA said they would work on making sure police officers wouldn't harrass photographs for taking photographs in subway and train stations. And yet... reader Jarid emailed us about getting stopped by a police after taking photographs on a subway on Monday.

Yesterday (8/14), at 8:00 a.m., I was stopped at removed from an A train by the NYPD at the Broadway-Nassau station for... taking photos. I was detained for a solid 15-20 minutes on the platform while being questioned repeatedly, made to turn over ID (including his asking why I was carrying a Massachusetts State ID -- I'm a student studying at Columbia), had to give over all sorts of personal information because, in the words of the cop, I had been "taken off a train," and then, probably to scare the hell out of me, the cop took my camera and placed it in his uniform chest pocket. He then read me the terrorism riot-act, so to speak, telling me I was frightening numerous passengers on the train who subsequently complained by taking photos, told me I was taking videos (which I was not -- I've never used the video feature of my camera) of sensitive areas (specifically tunnels -- which, again, I was not), and told me that similar matters can be turned over to the FBI for further investigation.

Continue reading "Subway Photography is Still in Question"

Ah, one of the emerging marvels of MySpace is getting fired over what you've posted on it. But this firing makes sense: An investigator on the Civilian Complaint Review Board - the organization that looks at people's complaints against the police - was let go after he posted about a "truck driver n----r." Twenty-two year old Chris Macchia had gotten into a fight with a truck driver, and naturally, he shared it on MySpace. Then messageboard NYPD Rant got hold of Macchia's MySpace page - which of course bragged about being a city investigator - and angry police officers contacted the CCRB. A police union official told the Daily News, "The irony of this is CCRB is trying to hold NYPD to a higher standard and here is a serious lack of judgment by one of their own. To their credit, CCRB acted swiftly after receiving the complaints. However, a review of this investigator's cases is in order because of the obvious credibility issue."

The NYCLU is working with the FBI as the federal agency investigates whether the NYPD violated civil rights of protesters during the Republican National Convention in 2004. The FBI only confirmed they did send a letter to the NYCLU, but luckily the NYCLU has a PDF of the letter here. The FBI is looking for Dennis Kyne, whose arrest was thrown out after "videotape contradicted" the police officer's account. Interesting - and we're sure the Secret Service has a list of all the protesters just in case. Still, the NYCLU loves it: "Commissioner Kelly may have thought he could ignore complaints from the civil rights community and even the Civilian Complaint Review Board about Convention arrests, but we doubt he can ignore the FBI." And we heard about the Civilian Complaint Review Board's investigations last week.

Yesterday, the NY Times revealed that the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board, the agency that investigates complaints against the NYPD, criticized two deputy chiefs for prompting "unnecessary arrests" of protesters during the Republican Convention. Needless to say, Police Commissioner Kelly had to respond, saying that they acted properly as demonstrators didn't have a permit to protest and that the NYPD allowed thousands of people to protest without incident. The NYCCCRB letter found that deputy chiefs did not use bullhorns when shouting orders, offering that some marchers might have obeyed if they heard orders. Kelly says that some bullhorns had been used, but the NYCLU points out to the Times that there have been many complaints about unclear orders from the police (in fact, the NYCLU has two lawsuits against the city for RNC/NYPD-related incidents).

Ooh: Apparently a relative of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly wants to sue the city over the NYPD's aggressive behavior! The Daily News says that Arthur Heller, who is the son of Kelly's first cousin, tried to swipe his Metrocard at the 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue subway entrance, but was having problems (Metrotardation?), so he kept swiping. Which then aroused police suspicions - which makes Gothamist concerned about the middle-aged lady this morning who hogged the turnstile for way too long (where were you NYPD?). Anyway, the NYPD allegedly "tried to take [Heller's] subway card, tackled and punched him prior to identifying themselves as police officers." Heller did tell the cops he was related to Kelly, but the police didn't seem to pay attention to that. So now Heller's lawsuit is with the Civilian Complaint Review Board. This begs two questions: Are the police too harsh and what do you do for your first cousin's kid?

It's become an expected refrian: Crime in the city is still dropping, down 6% from last year. The NY Post reports that murders are down 16% versus the same first-five-months-of-the-year period last year, while rape is down 8.8% and bank robberies have declined by almost 50% (except at Commerce Banks, probably). Also: 20% more DWI arrests, leading to 13% less DWI-related accidents and 25% less DWI-related deaths, and crime in "impact zones," the targeted neighborhoods, is down by almost a quarter.