A hold in Harlem. A Bronx outpost. An ocean-side presence in Far Rockaway. A view of the Staten Island Ferry. A largely-Black swath of east Brooklyn.
These are the places protected by NYPD officers who amassed the most substantiated misconduct complaints in their boroughs, according to a new database published by ProPublica.
The database covers more than two decades of confirmed wrongdoing by cops, as documented by the Civilian Complaint Review Board. Some individual cops have racked up dozens of accusations, the database shows.
… 8,301 accusations against NYPD officers were substantiated, the database shows.
Not all accusations are confirmed — and the database shows which cases were exonerated or unsubstantiated. But, all told, 8,301 accusations against NYPD officers were substantiated, the database shows.
Patch took a look at which NYPD police precincts led their boroughs for the most substantiated complaints.
“Unsubstantiated” in this case means the conduct indeed happened but was allowed by the NYPD’s rules, according to ProPublica.
And not all substantiated complaints were equal — discipline ranged from none at all, to instructions, to formal training, to command discipline and finally to charges.Precincts in Brooklyn and the Bronx had far more substantiated complaints of misconduct compared to those in other boroughs. Not counting special NYPD squads, Brooklyn and Bronx precincts counted for nine of the top 10 boroughs for substantiated complaints, the data shows.
NYPD officers working in precincts covering communities that are largely Black or people of color generally had the most confirmed complaints, according to the data. That was the case, for instance, for the 77th and 79th precincts, which cover much of Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights.
Black complaints accounted for 4,073 of substantiated cases, according to the data.
Black complaints accounted for 4,073 of substantiated cases, according to the data.
The ProPublica database includes disciplinary records of all NYPD officers that became public after a decades-old statute known as 50-a was repealed in June.
A recent ruling temporarily barred the city and review board from releasing those disciplinary records but ProPublica was not a party in that case, which exempted it from the order.
“In releasing the information included in our database, ProPublica is not publishing all complaints against officers,” ProPublica wrote. “As we’ve noted, we’ve limited the data to only those officers who’ve had at least one substantiated allegation.”
A NYPD spokesperson responded to Patch’s and others requests for comment with the following statement: “The NYPD has for many years worked to increase transparency to gain the trust of the communities we serve. While we remain committed to increased transparency, we are equally committed to due process. While recent legislation repealed NYS Civil Rights Law Section 50a, a federal judge issued a restraining order prohibiting the release of records of which allegations against our officers were found to be false, unfounded or unsubstantiated. We await the results of pending litigation.”
Find a full list of accusations against each precinct, or individual officers, by searching the database here.
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