The city agency charged with investigating police misconduct has been ordered to reduce its budget by a total of $1.1 million over the next year—despite an uptick in its caseload that requires more resources.
Fred Davie, the chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, said he was told by city officials Tuesday night that on top of the $375,000 he was ordered to cut from this year's budget, the CCRB would need to cut an additional $726,000, bringing the total to $1.1 million for the upcoming fiscal year due to pandemic-related shortfalls. The cuts represent around 5.9 percent of the CCRB's annual $19 million budget. Davie, who announced the reductions during the agency's monthly meeting on Wednesday, called them "disappointing" and said they will result in layoffs.
The CCRB employs roughly 200 people, with 86 of them having the role of investigator, according to CheckBookNYC. Median salaries for investigators are $69,000.
"Knowing how hard-working, smart, and dedicated this team of public servants is, we saw layoffs as an absolute last resort. Last night’s news, unfortunately, makes it clear that we will have to engage this last resort," Davie said in prepared remarks. "It is my understanding that all City agencies are under the same orders."
The NYPD's own city-funded operating budget is being reduced by 6.6 percent—from $5.2 billion in 2020 to $4.9 billion in 2021, according to a Citizen's Budget Commission report released on Thursday.
"Some smaller agencies had larger proportional declines, including 13.1 percent ($58 million) at the Department of Parks and Recreation and 24.0 percent ($169 million) at the Department of Youth and Community Development," the report notes.
The CCRB's cuts come after a major uptick in its caseload following protests against the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, which produced 751 complaints of alleged misconduct at the hands of officers responding to protests.
On Thursday morning, Mayor Bill de Blasio denied that the NYPD was being spared from staffing cuts that affect other agencies, but declined to outright say if the NYPD would be forced to lay off any employees. In order to avert layoffs by October 1st, the mayor said that Congress would need to produce a stimulus package, or the city would need clearance from Albany to borrow money.
"Savings can take more forms than just layoffs. That is a true statement. But to get to the kinds of savings we're talking about here, layoffs, unfortunately have to be part of the package in some form or another. But I my sincere hope while we're planning for this very painful eventuality that's just about six, seven weeks away. My sincere hope is that we can find a way to avert," the mayor said.
The CCRB is already stretched thin while investigating thousands of complaints each year, and has had to deal with the NYPD's plodding responses to requests for body camera footage, and officers refusing to show up for investigatory interviews.
Michael Sisitzky, lead policy counsel at the NYCLU, called the CCRB's budget cuts "another example of every agency except the NYPD being asked to make sacrifices."
"Given the department's recent stonewalling of investigations by not participating in remote hearings and the mayor's unwillingness to address their conduct, the need for a fully resourced oversight agency is all the more urgent," he said.
Molly Griffard, a legal fellow with the Cop Accountability Project at The Legal Aid Society, said that City Hall should "make up the difference by cutting the NYPD budget to fully fund the CCRB.”
“Especially now, the CCRB performs a critical function investigating NYPD officers who commit serious acts of misconduct and betray the trust of New Yorkers,” she said. “If anything, City Hall should increase funding for the 200-person agency to ensure proper oversight of such a large police department rife with misconduct."
