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The New York City Council will consider a pair of bills aimed at identifying and monitoring police officers like the one who tackled retired tennis star James Blake earlier this month.
Councilman Dan Garodnick is introducing a bill to create an Early Intervention System in response to the debate over the NYPD’s ability to police its own..
Garodnick cited a WNYC series from last year as one reason for the bill. The series showed that there are officers on the street despite red flags such as numerous lawsuits, civilian complaints and a disproportionate number of resisting-arrest charges.
Garodnick said his bill would require the NYPC to work with other watchdog agencies to create a system to spot such red flags and then monitor individual officers, possibly requiring them to undergo additional training.
A companion bill would empower the NYPD’s Inspector General to assess how well the department uses the Early Intervention System.
Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, blasted the bills as “political grandstanding.” In a prepared statement, he said every aspect of an officer’s career is already tracked.
“The city council knows full well that the NYPD is already intensifying that scrutiny by building an 'early intervention system' identical to the one the council proposes, so this bill will have no practical effect apart from scoring political points with those who want to end proactive policing in this city, which will ultimately erode public safety," Lynch said.
Garodnick said the difference is his bill would create a legal mandate for the NYPD to have such a system, and ensure it draws from a number of different performance indicators.
The ongoing fallout from the James Blake arrest also showed the power of releasing police disciplinary records. The officer involved, James Frascatore, was the subject of a WNYC investigation last year that revealed a history of run-ins with citizens.
But advocates say Mayor Bill De Blasio’s administration is trying to make it harder for such information to get out. For about a year, from October 2013 to October 2014, the Civilian Complaint Review Board provided summary information in response to Freedom of Information requests. It was bare bones — they didn't say what the complaints were about or anything like that. But then, not too long after the death of Eric Garner, at a time when people were calling for more police accountability, they stopped even that.
The chairman of the CCRB, Richard Emery, said a staff member made a mistake in interpreting the law. And he told WNYC that the city's lawyers told them to stop releasing the summary information.
But a judge ruled this summer that such records aren’t automatically confidential. State Supreme Court Judge Alice Schlesinger ordered the city to release summary complaint information about Officer Daniel Pantaleo — the police officer caught on tape using a chokehold on Garner.
The city is appealing that decision. A statement from the Law Department says the city the decision “appears to be inconsistent with previous case law prohibiting disclosure, and our appeal seeks clarity and guidance from a higher court.”
And in court filings in another case, city attorneys argue the judge’s decision on the Pantaleo records was wrong.
Some advocates say they’re disappointed in the De Blasio administration’s stance.
“What it makes you feel is that they don’t take accountability and transparency very seriously,” said Tina Luongo, attorney-in-charge of criminal pracitce at the Legal Aid Society, which sued to get the Pantaleo records.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.