A federal monitor found that 24% of stops made by the NYPD Neighborhood Safety Teams last year were unconstitutional.
Police officers reported stopping 8,502 pedestrians in the first half of 2023 – a dramatic drop from the stop and frisk heights of 2011 when police made nearly 700,000 pedestrian stops.
But as Gothamist previously reported, those peak numbers rival the amount of stops the police made with drivers last year, roughly 670,000. About 90% of the drivers searched or arrested were Black or Latino.
On December 22, 1994, 29-year-old Nuyorican Anthony Baez was choked to death by police officer Francis X. Livoti in the University Heights section of the Bronx for accidentally hitting a police car with a ball. In 1998, Livoti was convicted of violating Baez' civil rights, and two other officers were convicted of lying on the witness stand at Livoti's trial.
On April 17, 1985, Mark Davidson was arrested by undercover detectives on charges of drug dealing and taken to NYPD's 106th precinct in Ozone Park, Queens, where he was beaten and tortured with a stun gun and threatened with torture on his genitals into making a false confession. On May 3, 1986, Sgt. Richard Pike, Jeffrey Gilbert and Loren MacLary were each convicted of assault and were sentenced to four to six years.
In December 1986, 11 NYPD officers were arrested from the 77th Precinct station house in the first major instance of corruption after the Knapp Commission. The investigation came to be known as the "Buddy Boys" case. The officers, "who knocked down doors, stole money and drugs from drug dealers and resold the stolen drugs," also "ran extortion operations within the precinct," according to a corruption timeline prepared by The New York Times. Eventually, 13 officers were indicted, and all of the nearly 200 officers at the 77th Precinct station house had to be transferred to other Brooklyn precincts, except for 1 union delegate. A special state prosecutor, Charles Hynes, found later to be corrupt himself, had to present evidence to a special grand jury in the corruption investigation
In May 1992, five current and one retired NYPD officers were arrested and charged with trafficking drugs from Brooklyn into Long Island. Two of the officers were partners at the 75th Precinct, whilst the other officers were from the 73rd Precinct. Prosecutors alleged that one of the officers arrested, Michael Dowd, knew when he was under surveillance and may have benefited from tips from department investigators. How Dowd may have managed, for some time, to evade investigation became a subject of inquiry by the Mollen Commission.[106] Officer Kenny Eurell, who also was one of the officers arrested at the same time as Dowd, tape-recorded Dowd plotting an elaborate plan to skip bail. His bail was revoked and later Dowd was convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute narcotics and served 12 years in prison.[107] In 2014, a documentary was released, The Seven Five, detailing Michael Dowd's career with the NYPD
On August 9, 1997, NYPD Officer Justin Volpe in Brooklyn sodomized Abner Louima with a broken broom handle in a 70th Precinct bathroom after lying about Abner attacking him and arresting him. Officer Volpe eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. Other officers were also implicated and convicted on charges stemming from the initial cover-up.
On February 4, 1999, four plainclothes NYPD officers assigned to the Street Crime Unit in the Bronx fired 41 gunshots at Amadou Diallo, killing him instantly. Diallo, whom the officers mistook for a since-convicted rapist, was later found to be unarmed.
Occupy Wall Street activist Michael Premo was arrested on December 17, 2011 and charged with assaulting an officer. Prosecutors argued and the arresting officer gave sworn testimony that Premo "charged the police like a linebacker, taking out a lieutenant and resisting arrest so forcefully that he fractured an officer's bone." The defense located a video that was taken by freelancer Jon Gerberg which contradicted the sworn testimony, instead showing officers "tackling [Premo] as he attempted to get back on his feet". Prosecutors claimed no video of Premo's arrest existed, yet the Gerberg video clearly showed an NYPD officer also filming Premo's arrest. Nick Pinto of Village Voice wrote that "information provided by the NYPD in the trial was fabricated to such a degree that the allegations made by the police officers have turned out to be quite literally the opposite of what actually happened.
On September 29, 2013, motorcyclists participated in a rally called "Hollywood's Block Party" on New York City's Henry Hudson Parkway. One of the bikers pulled in front of Alexian Lien and slowed dramatically, "brake checking". Lien stopped his vehicle and was quickly surrounded by bikers. Lien accelerated to escape and struck one of the bikers, critically injuring him. A chase ensued, ending in Lien being pulled from his vehicle and beaten. The attack was caught on video and the NYPD faced criticism when some of the bikers involved in the chase and attack were identified as off-duty New York City police officers. Ten-year veteran and undercover detective Wojciech Braszczok surrendered to authorities and was arrested on October 8. An undercover narcotics detective has been identified by the press as being present but not participating in the assault. Sources have reported a total of five off-duty officers were originally present on the West Side Highway, and that at least two saw the assault.
But as Gothamist previously reported, those peak numbers rival the amount of stops the police made with drivers last year, roughly 670,000. About 90% of the drivers searched or arrested were Black or Latino.
How the mayor, a black man, can be a supporter of this racist police department, can only be supposed is because he was an NYPD captain, and Brooklyn Borough President, and it's likely, based on the racist behavior of police across America, that either police become racist, or racist people gravitate toward police work because of the immunity to being prosecuted for criminal behavior, and the other perks of having a badge (no speeding tickets, free donuts and coffee, parking in the red or where ever the hell they want, anytime, early retirement, lifelong pension equal to the last paycheck, bribes, extortion, selling access to police records and databases, courtesy cards and tax free income from selling courtesy cards https://www.ebay.com/itm/144835840537?hash=item21b8e38a19:g:fmEAAOSwQJNjiQDA , )
By the way, the budget for the NYPD is around 10 billion annually. https://www.businessinsider.com/the-real-cost-of-police-nypd-actually-10-billion-year-2020-8
The cost to the New York City in lawsuits which result in settlements because the police or the city are not willing to go into a courtroom to publicly defend their behavior, is somewhere around 1.5 billion, and personal injury and property damage claims payouts cost the City $688.4 million.
The cost of civil rights claim payouts in 2022 was $143.2 million.
As the New York Daily News reported, as of May 2018, NYPD Detective Scarcella's homicide cases had resulted in wrongful convictions for at least 13 individuals with a combined 245 years in prison, and the city and state had paid at least $53.3 million in legal settlements because of his "shady investigations involving tainted evidence, misleading testimony or forced confessions"
New York City paid out more than $50 million to settle claims of police misconduct in the first seven months of this year, with the median amount already higher than the last five years, according to an analysis from the Legal Aid Society. The price tag covered the resolution of more than 400 lawsuits between January and late July, based on the organization’s analysis of city data.
https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/crime/2023/05/31/nypd-police-officer-cites-courtesy-cards-used-by-friends-and-family-of-cops-as-source-of-corruption
NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, a long-time ally of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, is currently facing a department trial over allegations that he improperly voided the arrest of a former officer accused of menacing children with a gun.
Remember, NYPD was so corrupt, Al Pacino starred in the movie showing Frank Serpico's experience being honest and professional.
Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa were simultaneously on the payrolls of the NYPD and the Lucchese crime family and were abusing their authority as officers of the NYPD. They would routinely violate the civil rights of the citizens of New York City, and moonlighted for the crime family. They would use NYPD files to track down the enemies of the crime family
From 1949 to 1950, deputy assistant Brooklyn District Attorney Helfand conducted a probe into allegations that bookmaker Harry Gross' $20 million a year operation was protected by members of the NYPD and city government. The investigation led to the conviction of 10 police officers and the resignation of New York City Police Commissioner William O'Brien
Thirty-three officers were arrested in a wide-ranging investigation of corruption at the 30th Precinct station house in Harlem. Some of the police officers would illegally search known drug dealers' apartments, seizing drugs and cash. The police officers would then sell the seized drugs straight out of the 30th Precinct station house itself at half-market price in order to profit from their spoils.
On December 22, 1994, 29-year-old Nuyorican Anthony Baez was choked to death by police officer Francis X. Livoti in the University Heights section of the Bronx for accidentally hitting a police car with a ball. In 1998, Livoti was convicted of violating Baez' civil rights, and two other officers were convicted of lying on the witness stand at Livoti's trial.
On April 17, 1985, Mark Davidson was arrested by undercover detectives on charges of drug dealing and taken to NYPD's 106th precinct in Ozone Park, Queens, where he was beaten and tortured with a stun gun and threatened with torture on his genitals into making a false confession. On May 3, 1986, Sgt. Richard Pike, Jeffrey Gilbert and Loren MacLary were each convicted of assault and were sentenced to four to six years.
In December 1986, 11 NYPD officers were arrested from the 77th Precinct station house in the first major instance of corruption after the Knapp Commission. The investigation came to be known as the "Buddy Boys" case. The officers, "who knocked down doors, stole money and drugs from drug dealers and resold the stolen drugs," also "ran extortion operations within the precinct," according to a corruption timeline prepared by The New York Times. Eventually, 13 officers were indicted, and all of the nearly 200 officers at the 77th Precinct station house had to be transferred to other Brooklyn precincts, except for 1 union delegate. A special state prosecutor, Charles Hynes, found later to be corrupt himself, had to present evidence to a special grand jury in the corruption investigation
In May 1992, five current and one retired NYPD officers were arrested and charged with trafficking drugs from Brooklyn into Long Island. Two of the officers were partners at the 75th Precinct, whilst the other officers were from the 73rd Precinct. Prosecutors alleged that one of the officers arrested, Michael Dowd, knew when he was under surveillance and may have benefited from tips from department investigators. How Dowd may have managed, for some time, to evade investigation became a subject of inquiry by the Mollen Commission.[106] Officer Kenny Eurell, who also was one of the officers arrested at the same time as Dowd, tape-recorded Dowd plotting an elaborate plan to skip bail. His bail was revoked and later Dowd was convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute narcotics and served 12 years in prison.[107] In 2014, a documentary was released, The Seven Five, detailing Michael Dowd's career with the NYPD
On August 9, 1997, NYPD Officer Justin Volpe in Brooklyn sodomized Abner Louima with a broken broom handle in a 70th Precinct bathroom after lying about Abner attacking him and arresting him. Officer Volpe eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. Other officers were also implicated and convicted on charges stemming from the initial cover-up.
On February 4, 1999, four plainclothes NYPD officers assigned to the Street Crime Unit in the Bronx fired 41 gunshots at Amadou Diallo, killing him instantly. Diallo, whom the officers mistook for a since-convicted rapist, was later found to be unarmed.
In 2006, Dennis Kim and Jerry Svoronos, two police officers working out of the 109th Precinct, and Gina Kim and Geeho Chae, brothel operators, were arrested on March 8, 2006, for bribery charges relating to the protection of a brothel located in Flushing, Queens.
In March 2010, the NYCLU released 16 years' worth of reports from the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB). The reports were obtained under a request filed in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. The documents released consisted of annual IAB reports covering the years from 1993 through 2008. According to analysis by the NYCLU, the number of tips of misconduct or corruption received by IAB more than tripled over the period from 1994 to 2006, but the number of serious misconduct investigations were cut by more than half. IAB was investigating about 15% of tips in 1994; by 2004, IAB was only investigating around 2% of tips, revealing a sharp decrease in internal investigatory oversight. In its press release announcing its release and review of the IAB annual reports, the NYCLU further noted, "The annual IAB reports have become less informative over time, with critical information removed from them over time."
In May 2010, Adrian Schoolcraft, a former NYPD officer, publicized recordings he made in secret while on duty, showing a pattern of corruption and retaliation against him for refusing to cooperate. Officers detained citizens without charges to meet quota and failed to report serious crimes, including rape, to make their department appear to be reducing crime rates. When the NYPD learned that Schoolcraft was privately investigating such corruption, concern for his mental health was used as an excuse for armed officers to kidnap and imprison him in a hospital.
On June 7, 2011, ex-NYPD transit officer Jorge Arbaje-Diaz was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after being convicted of kidnapping, robbing and torturing drug dealers while on the force in 2008. Arbaje-Diaz was found guilty of stealing more than 1,600 pounds of cocaine and $4 million in cash.
In October 2011, five current NYPD police officers and three retired police officers were arrested and charged with trafficking guns into New York state in exchange for thousands of dollars in cash. Six of those implicated worked, or once worked, at the 68th Precinct
Occupy Wall Street activist Michael Premo was arrested on December 17, 2011 and charged with assaulting an officer. Prosecutors argued and the arresting officer gave sworn testimony that Premo "charged the police like a linebacker, taking out a lieutenant and resisting arrest so forcefully that he fractured an officer's bone." The defense located a video that was taken by freelancer Jon Gerberg which contradicted the sworn testimony, instead showing officers "tackling [Premo] as he attempted to get back on his feet". Prosecutors claimed no video of Premo's arrest existed, yet the Gerberg video clearly showed an NYPD officer also filming Premo's arrest. Nick Pinto of Village Voice wrote that "information provided by the NYPD in the trial was fabricated to such a degree that the allegations made by the police officers have turned out to be quite literally the opposite of what actually happened.
On September 29, 2013, motorcyclists participated in a rally called "Hollywood's Block Party" on New York City's Henry Hudson Parkway. One of the bikers pulled in front of Alexian Lien and slowed dramatically, "brake checking". Lien stopped his vehicle and was quickly surrounded by bikers. Lien accelerated to escape and struck one of the bikers, critically injuring him. A chase ensued, ending in Lien being pulled from his vehicle and beaten. The attack was caught on video and the NYPD faced criticism when some of the bikers involved in the chase and attack were identified as off-duty New York City police officers. Ten-year veteran and undercover detective Wojciech Braszczok surrendered to authorities and was arrested on October 8. An undercover narcotics detective has been identified by the press as being present but not participating in the assault. Sources have reported a total of five off-duty officers were originally present on the West Side Highway, and that at least two saw the assault.
On two different occasions in 2018, officer Kyle Erickson, of the 120th Precinct, was caught on his own bodycam planting marijuana in cars during a traffic stop after finding nothing in a search. Both times, after planting the marijuana, Erickson asked fellow officer Elmer Pastran if they are "good", suggesting that Pastran was fully complicit. The man arrested in the first incident, Lasou Kuyateh, began proceedings in late 2019 to sue the city of New York for $1 million. His marijuana charge had been dropped abruptly at a pretrial hearing because of the video, and prosecutors encouraged Erickson to get a lawyer.
In October 2021, off-duty police officer Yvonne Wu broke into the home of her ex-girlfriend, Jenny Li, shooting her and her partner, Jamie Liang, with an NYPD-issued Glock-19 pistol, killing Liang and injuring Li.
A video of a crowd of protesters clashing with the NYPD attracted attention on May 30, 2020, showing police vehicles accelerating into a crowd of people.
In October 2021, off-duty police officer Yvonne Wu broke into the home of her ex-girlfriend, Jenny Li, shooting her and her partner, Jamie Liang, with an NYPD-issued Glock-19 pistol, killing Liang and injuring Li.
A video of a crowd of protesters clashing with the NYPD attracted attention on May 30, 2020, showing police vehicles accelerating into a crowd of people.
A report from Capital New York reported that 85 IP addresses belonging to the New York Police Department had made changes to Wikipedia pages about NYPD misconduct and also to articles about people killed in police interventions
This post took 5 hours
holy crap dude, I can't remember the last time I was so passionate about something that I spent 4 hours ranting about it. Good on you!. . . me? -not so much
ReplyDeleteI've spent nearly 17 years just on vehicle stuff.
DeleteMaybe you'd missed that, ha! But it's all just spare time, in an effort to share stuff I find important, or interesting.
And what the hell, I have the aspiration to earn a Pulitizer.
Not likely to happen, but that won't stop me from trying, I am no quitter