The New York Police Department is undergoing cardinal reform, according to Commissioner James O'Neill in his State of the NYPD address on Jan. 25.
In his speech, presented to the NYC Police Foundation, O'Neill stressed a “complete overhaul” that is “reworking the entire way the NYPD protects New York City” and “redefining the role of the NYPD police officer.”
The department could use all the evidence of change O'Neill can provide, given that earlier that week the city agreed to pay up to $75 million to settle a lawsuit over hundreds of thousands of unlawful criminal court summonses issued by the NYPD, as ruled by federal Judge Robert Sweet in 2012.
Representatives insist the department has changed its ways since then. But it still seems to rely on bogus summonses to fight crime, albeit to a lesser degree.
The lawsuit filed back in 2010 alleged that, more often than not, officers lacked the required probable cause to issue criminal court summonses for offenses like public drinking and disorderly conduct.
