A trove of secret recordings, made by a whistleblower cop in Mount Vernon, New York, reveal numerous allegations of police brutality and abuse. The accusations range from assaults of civilians in custody and on the street to illegal strip searches and unjustified tasings of unarmed residents.

The tapes, along with numerous interviews of residents, lawsuits, and confidential internal affairs documents, point to a culture of routine brutality and impunity enabled by department supervisors in recent years. In one recording, a detective said he witnessed a colleague assaulting a civilian in a cell at the police station. When he tried to report it, he claimed supervisors failed to investigate and recommended he transfer units. In a separate call, another officer described an incident in which a sergeant concocted a story to justify a subordinate’s assault of a young man on the street.

The brutality allegations are the latest in a string of police scandals that have sparked outrage in the city, which is one of Westchester County’s few majority Black enclaves. In June, WNYC published its first two investigations based on the Mount Vernon police tapes, examining claims of narcotics officers framing innocent residents and teaming up with favored drug dealers.

For more, read the print version of this story on Gothamist.com.