Last month City Limits reported on the relatively small number of whistleblower complaints that the city actually decides come from whistleblowers. From 2014 through 2018, of the 170 cases investigated by the city’s Department of Investigation over five years, only one qualified for whistleblower protection.
The fiscal 2019 numbers are now out, and there has been a significant uptick. Of the 25 cases closed in 2019, which included some that were opened in earlier years, five were deemed to qualify for whistleblower protection. Two of those had blown the whistle on DOI itself–they were involved in allegations against former DOI commissioner Mark Peters. The other three came from other agencies.
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | Total | |
| Opened for investigation/preliminary investigations | 20 | 26 | 20 | 28 | 22 | 20 | 136 |
| No action/filed for intelligence purposes | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 28 |
| Referred to another agency | 10 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 34 |
| Cases that remained open at year’s end | 12 | 16 | 9 | 18 | 12 | 16 | 83 |
| Whistleblower substantiated | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 |
There was a very slight increase in total possible whistleblower complaints this year, to 32 from 30 in 2018.
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | TOTAL | |
| Total | 36 | 36 | 28 | 40 | 30 | 32 | 202 |
| AGENCIES | |||||||
| Department of Education | 18 | 19 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 85 |
| New York City Housing Authority | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 28 |
| Department of Parks and Recreation | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | ||
| Administration for Children’s Services | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Department of Housing Preservation and Development | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| Department of Buildings | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Department of Homeless Services | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | ||
| Department of Health and Mental Hygiene | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| Health + Hospitals | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| Fire Department | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Department for the Aging | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Office of the Comptroller | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Board of Elections | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Department of Correction | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | ||
| Department of Citywide Administrative Services | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |||
| Office of Payroll Administration | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| Department of Transportation | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||
| Human Resource Administration | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Office of the Chief Medical Examiner | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| City Council | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Economic Development Corporation | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Police Pension Fund | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Police Department | 1 | 1 | |||||
| CUNY | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Community Board | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Department of Finance | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Department of Youth and Community Development | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Department of Environmental Protection | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Department of Investigation | 1 | 1 |
