Sunday, 24 Nov 2024

Sexual misconduct complaints flood police watchdog

The police Civilian Complaint Review Board fielded 83 complaints of sexual misconduct by cops since it began prosecuting such allegations in February 2018, the board’s chairman said Tuesday.

“More than one year later, the agency has received 83 complaints containing 126 allegations of sexual harassment, sexual or romantic propositions, sexual humiliation and sexually motivated strip searches,” CCRB chairman Frederick Davie testified at a City Council hearing.

Among the allegations investigated, 40 percent are pending, 14 percent were deemed to be unfounded or unsubstantiated and 6 percent were substantiated.

The CCRB, an independent city agency that probes allegations of police abuse, previously referred sexual misconduct complaints to the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau.

Davie said his agency plans to eventually handle sexual assault cases as well after investigators complete the necessary training.

“Can we move expeditiously on this? I don’t want sexual assaults lingering out there,” said Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Queens), who chairs the Public Safety Committee.

“We share your desire to move as fast as possible, but we don’t want our haste to damage a case against an officer,” responded Davie.

Since February 2018, CCRB has referred 54 sexual abuse cases to NYPD Internal Affairs and another 42 to district attorney offices.

Davie said the CCRB, which has a $17.9 million budget, is seeking funding to “develop a victim advocacy and support program.”

Davie also said 4,745 complaints were filed against cops last year, compared to 4,487 in 2017.

He attributed the increase to the city’s Right to Know Act that took effect in October requiring that cops hand over a business card to people they question.

Davie said 137 complaints came in about cops who failed to do that.

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