FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Thursday May 11, 2023
MEDIA CONTACTS
Eliel Cruz, press@justicecommittee.org
In response to the Civilian Complaint Review Board’s announcement that Mayor Adams’ proposed FY24 budget will force them to refer their racial profiling cases back to the NYPD, the Justice Committee released the following statement from Executive Director Loyda Colon:
The Mayor’s proposal to further defund the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), after imposing crippling cuts last year, is yet another egregious example of his administration protecting abusive officers from discipline at the expense of safety and well-being for New Yorkers. The possibility that this will result in the referral of over 100 racial profiling and bias-based policing cases back to the NYPD is a slap in the face to the City Council, which voted to give the CCRB jurisdiction over such cases in 2021. If it is allowed to occur, it will further erode the already inadequate methods New Yorkers have to hold the NYPD accountable, opening the door to increased profiling and abuse.
Between 2014 and 2021, before the CCRB had this jurisdiction, the NYPD investigated 3,480 bias and profiling complaints and substantiated a mere four of them. Currently - in a flagrant attempt to shield racist officers - the NYPD is actively impeding CCRB profiling investigations by withholding essential information. If the cases currently being investigated by the CCRB are referred back to the NYPD, they will go there and die. In the interest of public safety, the City Council must not approve an FY24 budget that forces profiling complaints back into the hands of the NYPD.
Background: In 2021, the New York City Council voted to give the Civilian Complaint Review Board the power to investigate and prosecute civilian complaints of racial profiling and bias by NYPD officers, an expansion of their jurisdiction that went into effect last year. The CCRB’s FY23 budget is approximately 0.2% of the NYPD’s. Mayor Adams is proposing to cut this by another 2.3% for FY24*. The CCRB is currently investigating over 100 profiling complaints, but the investigations are stalled due to a lack of resources and because the NYPD refuses to provide comparative information regarding subject officers’ histories and patterns within their commands.
*See: https://www.nyc.gov/assets/omb/downloads/pdf/erc4-23.pdf
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