New York, NY – On the heels of the Eric Garner chokehold-related death in Staten Island in July, the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) has issued a 120-page report citing a multi-layered systemic problem with the NYPD’s chokehold policies.
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NYPOST.com (http://bit.ly/Yw6Gt1) reports that the CCRB’s review, which is scheduled to be released this coming Wednesday, is coming billed as a “Vision Zero action plan,” a clear reference to Mayor bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative.
Critical issues included in the CCRB report are the failure of the NYPD brass to discipline all but the worst NYPD chokehold offenders; repeated instances of NYPD officials “softening” the definition of chokehold in order to grant leniency to department offenders; and an ongoing pattern of “leniency” by NYPD internal disciplinary judges when it comes to metering out penalties for officers violating department policy for chokeholds.
One problematic area for the CCRB is that despite the fact that there have been some 1,128 allegations of chokehold use by the NYPD during the past 5.5 years, CCRB investigators have only been able to substantiate 10 cases, or less than 2 percent.
The CCRB report cites lack of evidence and shoddy investigating by its own former investigators for the low numbers.
The CCRB is a joke, and it has been one for decades. The only time that cops are substantially punished is when a complaint originates within the NYPD, by its Internal Affairs Division. However, if a civilian files a complaint via the CCRB, over 98% of complaints are thrown out. For the two per cent of complaints which are substantiated, very minor punishment results. For example, during the disorders in Borough Park in the Spring of 2006, despite numerous complaints by citizens who were manhandled by the heavy handed cops (reports of beards being pulled and torn out, frum women being shoved, etc.), very little was done to punish any cops.