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More NYPD Officer Misconduct Being Substantiated Due to Videos, CCRB Says

By Ben Fractenberg | October 15, 2015 9:24am
 The CCRB credited the increased use of video in substantiating NYPD officer misconduct.
The CCRB credited the increased use of video in substantiating NYPD officer misconduct.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

MIDTOWN — The Civilian Complaint Review Board had their highest rate ever of substantiated NYPD officer misconduct cases in September, much of which is attributed to bystander and surveillance video of police interactions with the public, the agency announced Wednesday.

Nearly 30 percent of the cases fully investigated by the CCRB in September — 76 out of 260 investigations — found that an officer committed misconduct, the sixth month in a row that more than 20 percent of cases resulted in a substantiation of public complaints, according to the agency.

“We live in an age where video evidence is obtained through various surveillance sources and bystanders who record police-civilian encounters,” CCRB Executive Director Mina Malik said. “The availability of video evidence is key in some cases and is driving the current increase in substantiations.”

 The Civilian Complaint Review Board had the highest number of substantiated NYPD misconduct investigations in September, according to the agency.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board had the highest number of substantiated NYPD misconduct investigations in September, according to the agency.
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CCRB

The board substantiated more than 50 percent of cases where there was video evidence, compared with 22 percent of cases without such evidence.

The rate of substantiated cases steadily increased from 2010, when it was 11 percent, to 2014, when it was 17 percent, according to a CCRB board report.

CCRB Board Chair Richard Emery has proposed expanding the use of video to having every officer involved in a home entry to wear a body camera, and for the installation of surveillance cameras in all NYPD station houses.

“Home entries are probably the most invasive police action short of a strip search. Complaints are inevitable,” Emery said in a statement. “It serves both the police and civilians to have them documented so accusations can be fairly resolved.” 

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has also called for an increased number of body cameras worn by officers, to document not only police conduct, but to show possible bias against officers. 

The commissioner said he would eventually like to see the cameras on the majority of officers who interact with the public. 

"Everybody now has a camera and a video camera. That has changed the way these incidents are looked at," Bratton said during an interview on MSNBC Monday.  

"I think that’s a positive, because it will in fact, hopefully, control police behavior when inappropriate, but also will control public behavior, when the public understands that their acts of stupidity, their acts of confrontation, their acts of brutality are also being caught on tape."

While the number of substantiated cases has increased, the number of allegations filed against officers with the CCRB has decreased by 19 percent year to date compared with 2014, according to the agency. 

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association blasted the agency for failing to highlight this reduction. 

“Once again the CCRB has tipped its hand as an organization hell-bent on doing nothing more than justifying its own existence by failing to highlight the 19% reduction of allegations against police officers in their press release," PBA President Patrick Lynch said in a statement. 

"They are part of a political apparatus that has been systematically denigrating the reputation of a fine police department and its officers and that must stop."

The NYPD did not return an immediate request for comment regarding the report.