NEW YORK—New legislation was proposed on Wednesday that will allow the city Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) to directly prosecute cases of police misconduct, said Council Member Dan Garodnick (D-Manhattan) in an interview.
The new bill will allow the CCRB to “offer settlements to accused officers, similar to a plea bargain, or take the most serious incidents to trial,” according to a press release.
The CCRB is an “independent non-police mayoral agency” staffed by all civilian employees, according to the CCRB Web site.
Currently the CCRB can only refer cases in which there is “reasonable evidence of misconduct,” to the Police Department, according to the press release.
The NYPD controls all aspects of the process, wielding the power to “judge, jury and prosecute,” said Garodnick, who introduced the new bill with Council Member Bill de Blasio and Citizens Union.
The Police Department pursued no discipline against officers in 33 percent of the cases substantiated by the CCRB in 2008, up from one percent in 2003, though the number of cases have decreased from 357 to 265, according to the press release.
Up to 33 percent of all complaints reported to the CCRB in 2008 stemmed from stop-and-frisk activities. Police “Stop, Question, and Frisk” activities on the streets of New York are on the rise—there were nearly 100,000 more instances in 2009 than in 2008, according to recent statistics released by the Police Department. A total of 626,767 “Stop, Question and Frisk” activities were conducted in 2009.
The bill seeks to remedy this by boosting public confidence in the CCRB to promptly and effectively pursue complaints of police misconduct, said Garodnick.
Recommended by Citizens Union, the bill will formally put into effect the power to prosecute as stipulated in the Police Department’s Memorandum of Understanding created with the CCRB during the Mayor Rudolph Guiliani’s term, but never implemented.
The new bill will allow the CCRB to “offer settlements to accused officers, similar to a plea bargain, or take the most serious incidents to trial,” according to a press release.
The CCRB is an “independent non-police mayoral agency” staffed by all civilian employees, according to the CCRB Web site.
Currently the CCRB can only refer cases in which there is “reasonable evidence of misconduct,” to the Police Department, according to the press release.
The NYPD controls all aspects of the process, wielding the power to “judge, jury and prosecute,” said Garodnick, who introduced the new bill with Council Member Bill de Blasio and Citizens Union.
The Police Department pursued no discipline against officers in 33 percent of the cases substantiated by the CCRB in 2008, up from one percent in 2003, though the number of cases have decreased from 357 to 265, according to the press release.
Up to 33 percent of all complaints reported to the CCRB in 2008 stemmed from stop-and-frisk activities. Police “Stop, Question, and Frisk” activities on the streets of New York are on the rise—there were nearly 100,000 more instances in 2009 than in 2008, according to recent statistics released by the Police Department. A total of 626,767 “Stop, Question and Frisk” activities were conducted in 2009.
The bill seeks to remedy this by boosting public confidence in the CCRB to promptly and effectively pursue complaints of police misconduct, said Garodnick.
Recommended by Citizens Union, the bill will formally put into effect the power to prosecute as stipulated in the Police Department’s Memorandum of Understanding created with the CCRB during the Mayor Rudolph Guiliani’s term, but never implemented.
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