Wednesday, September 05, 2007

There Is Nothing Civilian About The CCRB

A report done by the New York Civil Liberties Union has shown that the Civilian Complaint Review Board might not be doing the job it was created for. The board should be investigating civil complaints made against the police, but more than half of all cases are easily dismissed, and the rate of finding fault with the cops is significantly under the national average. Are cops just better here, or is there something else going on we should know about?

From AM New York:

Of the nearly 7,000 civilian complaints filed against New York City police officers in 2006, close to 60 percent were dismissed without an investigation, according to the report titled "Mission Failure," which looked at police complaints since 1994.

On average, the Civilian Complaint Review Board found police at fault in just 5.2 percent of complaints - far below the 10 to 13 percent average found at similar boards across the United States, the report said.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board was added to the City of New York Charter in July 1993. The board was tasked with conducting thorough and impartial investigations.

Of course the NYPD quickly came out to slam the report and the NYCLU in general. Who is more believable, a group that fights for civil liberties or the NYPD? First of all this board is compromised of people selected by the Mayor, the City Council and the Police Commissioner. Why would the latter have any say over who gets to do a civilian review. It is called a civilian complaint review board for a reason. On top of that, the Mayor and the council more or less are generally on the same side as the cops. This board doesn't seem fair at all when you look at how people are appointed.

Perhaps instead of trying to dismiss the NYCLU so quickly, the city should review how the board is put together. Perhaps civilians designating other civilians would be a good start. Common sense people...lets get on board here.