Nearly 150 New York City police officers engaged in misconduct, including the use of excessive force, while responding to the 2020 protests over the death of George Floyd, according to a report. announced Monday by a civil review board.
The city’s Civil Complaints Review Board, or CCRB, also found that many officers disciplined by the police department received punishments lower than recommended by the board, and in some cases, the Officers found to have committed misconduct are not disciplined.
Investigations into more than 600 complaints about police conduct during the protests had to end because the officers could not be identified. In many cases, it was because police intentionally wore mourning bands on their badges or refused to give their names, or because the department failed to track where officers were deployed, the 590-page report said. know.
The council received 321 complaints during the protests that were identified as falling within its jurisdiction and 226 complaints were investigated.
For example, the document describing police actions during a protest in Brooklyn on May 30, 2020, has attracted many complaints.
An officer drove a police car into the crowd and knocked protesters to the ground. Another officer pulled down a protester’s coronavirus mask and sprayed pepper spray in his face. On the Brooklyn Bridge that day, officers struck protesters in the head with batons, the report said.
The panel proved 269 allegations of misconduct against 146 officers, including 140 charges of excessive force and 72 charges of abuse of authority, including officers who refused to give their names or obscure their badge. The charges maintained include 34 people improperly hitting people with batons and 28 people improperly using pepper spray.
“Protests against police brutality have created more cases of police misconduct,” said Arva Rice, chair of the review panel, in a statement. “If this misconduct is not addressed, it will never be reformed.”
The document includes recommendations for changes.
The NYPD says it opposes many features of the board. In a statement, it said many, if not all, of the review panel’s recommendations were made in response to the department’s own review and recommendations by other agencies.
“A key element missing from this report is any acknowledgment that officers performed their utmost duty, protecting the city and its people, under often dangerous conditions. often prolonged,” the ministry said.
The agency also said the 226 complaints reviewed by the panel included 1,800 allegations and only 15% of them were substantiated. The number of officers found to have engaged in misconduct was just a fraction of the more than 20,000 people on duty daily at the height of the protests. The ministry noted that some protesters looted, set fires and destroyed property.
The NYPD said more than 400 officers were injured during the protests, including 250 who were hospitalized.
Patrick Lynch, head of the Police Benevolent Association, was also critical.
“Once again, anti-police activists at the CCRB are trying to blame individual police officers for the management failures and chaos created by violent agitators,” he said in a statement. An announcement. “We are still awaiting ‘responsibility’ for the city leaders who sent us out without a plan and without any support, as well as for the criminals who have injured us. over 400 of our brothers and sisters.”
The panel recommended charges and other disciplinary action against 89 officers. Of those cases, three were resolved through pleading guilty, four officers had their leave canceled, five officers retired or resigned before disciplinary action could be taken, nine officers were not subject to disciplinary action and pending administrative proceedings against 62 officers, the report said.
It makes a series of recommendations that cover all officers with up-to-date training in crowd control tactics. The council also said police should not interfere with members of the press, police names and shield numbers should always be displayed and the department should evaluate how they use different tactics and tools in the riots.
The New York Civil Liberties Union said the report showed how officers responded with violence.
“This report provides the public with a new window into the scale of officer misconduct, critical access to internal files, and ultimately clear evidence of the NYPD’s unwillingness to force officers must be held accountable,” Molly Biklen, ACLU New York’s deputy legal director, said in a statement.
