City Council Calls For Investigation Into NYPD Abuse Of Cyclists

As you would expect the sun to rise in the east and set in the west, I feel similarly about the NYPD's ability to hold their officers accountable for beating down cyclists that take part in the Critical Mass Bikerides. As we now know (or have known for a few years depending on what you read on the Internet) NYPD cops have lied in their statements regarding their behavior around innocent bicyclists. Outrage over the video that surfaced and contrasted with Officer Rogan's statement has been heard over at City Hall and now we are beginning to see some action from at least a few of our City representatives.

From Time's Up:

NEW YORK, NY (August 4, 2008) - City Council members join the chorus of outrage over the NYPD's continual harassment of Critical Mass cyclists. Earlier today, twelve city council members submitted a jointly signed letter to the Manhattan DA, Robert M Morgenthau, requesting that he drop the charges against Christopher Long and investigate the NYPD policies toward cyclists, specifically during Critical Mass rides. Christopher Long was thrown off his bicycle by police officer Patrick Pogan during the July 25th Critical Mass Ride.

The Internal Affairs Bureau is currently investigating Sergeant Timothy Horohoe for false official statements intentionally made to the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) during an investigation of the arrests of cyclist and videographer Christian Guttierez, and photographer Jordan Groh while documenting police harassment of cyclists in Time's Square during the March 2007 Critical Mass ride.

The CCRB report also substantiated the charge that Sgt. Timothy Horohoe used physical force when Sgt. Horohoe pushed Richard Vazquez off his bike when Mr. Vazquez rode through Times Square on the March 2007 Critical Mass. The charges of physical force used by Sgt Horohoe are being investigated by the Department Advocate Office. The statute of limitations on penalizing Horohoe for the acts of March 30, 2007 is September 30, 2008.

"Critical Mass participants have been assaulted by a Lietuenant, a Sergeant and recently by a Rookie officer. And each assault has been documented on video. When officers lie with impunity to cover up their bad conduct, the CCRB says that filing of false information in official documents is not within their jurisdiction. Simply put, there is no official manner for civilians to hold bad apples accountable for wrongful police conduct and therefore, all civilians and all good police officers suffer", says Wylie Stecklow, lawyer for the complainants.

If the CCRB isn't going to do anything about police officers that lie to them, then there is a serious problem with the CCRB. DA Morganthau must act in this instance and fully investigate the NYPD. This isn't just a case of one bad cop, there is a possibility that this is a systemic problem and if there is such, it has to be dealt with appropriately. Whoever allowed for a culture that permits random acts of violence against cyclists needs to be at the very least fired. Of course for the cyclists to have justice and New York to have a police force that they can trust, the people in power who condone this behavior will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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.