Just 1% Of NYPD Misconduct Cases Led To Serious Discipline: Study

New York City NY

14 December, 2021

3:14 PM

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NEW YORK CITY — Only a tiny handful of NYPD officers ended up facing consequences in nearly 181,000 misconduct complaints filed in the past two decades, a new study found. Just 4,300 cases resulted in discipline for officers. And, of those, 1,530 — or less than 1 percent of all cases — results in serious discipline such as suspension or termination. Those findings are outlined in a New York Civil Liberties Union study — "Cop Out: Analyzing 20 Years of Records Proving NYPD Impunity" — released this week. "The vast majority of complaints result in little or no discipline," the study states as its key finding. NYPD representatives didn't return Patch's request for comment on the study as of Tuesday afternoon. The study follows unprecedented recent disclosures of complaints made to the New York City Civilian Complaint board — an oversight panel tasked with investigating and punishing police misconduct. Police unions had fought the release of such misconduct complaints and disciplinary files, which are publicly available elsewhere in the country. Many outlets — including Patch — have combed the files for a look at how potential problem NYPD officers are, or aren't, disciplined. The NYCLU study is perhaps the most comprehensive. It found that NYPD officials watered down or simply didn't discipline officers in 74 percent of substantiated complaints. "The NYPD rarely imposes discipline," the report states. Just 3 percent of force complaints and those involving a firearm ended up being substantiated, according to the study. The study also found significant racial disparities — and not just for the people who file complaints. "Black officers were 33 percent more likely to receive serious discipline than white officers," the NYCLU pointed out. People of color are three times more likely to be identified as the injured party in a police misconduct complaint, the study found. And Black people are six times more likely to be identified as the injured party than white people. Read the full report here.