NYC Council Inquiry Into NYPD Complaint Cases

NEW YORK, NY — City Council Speaker Christine Quinn convened an oversight hearing about police misconduct cases.

Lawmakers want to explore why the NYPD does not prosecute dozens of cases documented by the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

Last year the CCRB investigated roughly 2,200 civilian complaints against the NYPD. Of that only 161 were substantiated and handed on to the police for internal discipline.

Today, the council is investigating why NYPD lawyers threw out 91 of those “substantiated” cases.

A spokesman for the CCRB says roughly the same percentage of substantiated cases were dismissed in 2007.

The NYPD says the CCRB’s legal work that produces the claims is inadequate.

Now the NYCLU and the Citizen’s Union say the only way to assure accountability for the NYPD is to have the civilian review panel take over the prosecution of the police misconduct cases it believes it can document.