“The thing about the CCRB is it’s a volunteer job, and you basically run the agency, even though you don’t get the support,” the mayoral hopeful said of her year-long stint at the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
The mayoral hopeful spent a little more than a year as chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, where former staffers who spoke with City Limits say she did not improve the dysfunctional agency in tangible ways.
In the first in a series of video briefings about the top issues of Campaign 2021, the hosts of WBAI’s Max & Murphy Show break down the sprawling issues of crime, punishment and fairness that face the city.
‘No entity can police itself – least of all, the police. So if the CCRB is to live up to its mandate for independent oversight of police misconduct in New York City, it must make the final decision on discipline for officers found to have engaged in misconduct.’
After a summer of protest, a number of proposals are circulating to strengthen civilian oversight of the police department. They face calls for more radical measures, doubts about effectiveness and memories of a seven-decade effort that has fallen short.
‘Until Albany finally repeals 50a and until we have an administration with a zero-tolerance approach to NYPD misconduct, local District Attorneys must themselves start to hold these officers accountable.’
Even if the most intense reverberations from Commissioner James O’Neill’s August 19 decision subside, the Garner case will continue to shape conversations about the mayor, the police department and the system in place to oversee cops.
In a dramatic reversal, the Charter Revision Commission approved a proposal to allow the CCRB to go after cops who make false statements during investigations of police misconduct. But it rejected comprehensive planning.
‘In reviewing the city charter, the Council’s leadership should focus less on expanding its institutional powers as a body, and more on strengthening the role that individual members can play.’
Plus: Has de Blasio’s CCRB been too soft on bad cops?
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