Mayor Bill de Blasio, sharply criticized in some places for his comments following a Staten Island grand jury’s decision not to press charges against a police officer in the death of Eric Garner, last Friday praised the police department as he announced a “significant” drop in all categories of misconduct complaints filed against NYPD cops over the past five months.
De Blasio and Richard Emery, chairman of the city Civilian Complaint Review Board, said that from July 1 through Nov.30, there were 1,813 complaints filed with the CCRB, a decline of 26 percent compared to the same period of 2013, when there were 2,450 complaints filed. This, the mayor noted, represents the largest decline in complaints over a five-month period since the agency was created in 1993.
CCRB complaints stem from police encounters in which there are often multiple allegations of misconduct that fall into four categories: excessive force; abuse of authority; discourtesy; and offensive language.
So from July 1 through Nov. 30, excessive force allegations fell by 29 percent; abuse of authority allegations, including stop, question and frisk, fell by 22 percent; discourtesy allegations fell by 24 percent; and offensive language allegations fell by 20 percent.
Overall, the CCRB has seen a decrease in complaints against officers over the past 11 months. From Jan. 1 through Nov. 30, compared to the same period in 2013, there was a 10 percent decline in complaints filed with the agency, from 5,004 to 4,510.
During this period, excessive force allegations fell by 11 percent; abuse of authority allegations fell by 3.5 percent; discourtesy allegations fell by 11 percent; and offensive language allegations fell by 5 percent.
“Over the past 11 months, my administration has implemented a series of initiatives and reforms aimed at bridging the gap between the NYPD and the communities they serve,” de Blasio said. “From ending the overuse of stop and frisk, to dropping the city’s legal challenge to the racial profiling ban, to changing the department’s policy on possession of small amounts of marijuana, we’re steadily bringing crime down while drawing police and community closer together. Commissioner Bratton is a force of change—and as we embark on the retraining of every single officer and continue to along this path of reform, I hope to see a continued drop in complaints.”
For more information, check the CCRB Complaint Activity Maps at nyc.gov/html/ccrb/html/news/complaint-maps.shtml
By Michael V. Cusenza
