NEW YORK CITY — The city appointed its first NYPD Inspector General Friday morning, a move tied to a controversial stop-and-frisk court case that sparked a heated battle between the Bloomberg administration, lawmakers and the judge.
Philp Eure, the executive director of the District of Columbia’s Office of Police Complaints, has been tasked with overseeing the NYPD. He previously worked at the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Phil Eure is a nationally recognized police accountability expert who also has years of experience in government law enforcement,” said the city's Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters, who announced the appointment. “His tenure leading and shaping an independent oversight agency and working with a major, metropolitan police force gives him extraordinary insight.”
The City Council passed a law creating the controversial position of an NYPD watchdog last year amid complaints of over the department’s stop-and-frisk policy.
Then-mayor Michael Bloomberg and former police commissioner Raymond Kelly argued that the post was unnecessary because the NYPD was already subject to oversight.
Bloomberg vetoed the inspector general bill but the city council overrode his veto in August.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, who has previously said he does not object to additional oversight, met and interviewed Eure before the appointment.
“Our intention is to work very collaboratively with him and his staff,” he said.
Eure will lead a staff of about 50 investigators, data analysts, lawyers, and support staff.
“I will ensure that we conduct thorough investigations to effect reform that strengthens this City’s law enforcement efforts and the public’s confidence in its police force,” he said.
“It is an honor to lead New York City’s first Office of Inspector General for the Police Department and to work in one of the greatest cities and with one of the premier police departments in the world.”
Before becoming Washington D.C.’s police department watchdog in 2000, Eure was a senior attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. DOJ.
He currently sits on the of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, a non-profit that works to reduce police misconduct, according to his bio.
