he NYPD doesn’t adequately punish cops who conduct unconstitutional street stops, a practice that goes back years, according to a scathing 503-page report released Monday.
The report was prepared by James Yates, a retired state judge asked to take a hard look at the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policies by Manhattan Federal Judge Analisa Torres, who is overseeing court-ordered reforms that came out of the landmark 2013 NYPD stop-and-frisk case.
“Discipline for illegal stops-and-frisks, even when substantiated by the [Civilian Complaint Review Board], is not pursued with the same vigor and resolve as for other misconduct,” the report says.
“Penalties for wrongdoing involving stops, questions, frisks or searches of persons … even when repeated, are rare. And, various police commissioners, over time, have demonstrated an inordinate willingness to excuse illegal stops, frisks and searches in the name of ‘good faith’ or ‘lack of mal-intention,’ relegating constitutional adherence to a lesser rung of discipline.”
The NYPD has for years denied allegations it engages in racial profiling. The report is the latest fallout from the 2013 federal case in which Manhattan Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that the nation’s largest police force violated the rights of minorities in the way it carried out stop-and-frisks.
Particularly troubling, Yates says in the report, is that NYPD officers can again and again escape punishment in a culture where commissioners too often lessen or dismiss the recommended penalty because the officer was acting “in good faith.”
“A citizenry plagued with Fourth Amendment violations,” Yates wrote, “is not made whole when told that the officer did not mean to act illegally.”
The federal court is accepting public comments on the report, with a deadline of Dec. 25.
“We will review the report and provide comments consistent with the court’s order,” an NYPD spokesman said.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said the report “is completely at odds with the disciplinary system as it’s experienced by police officers.”
“Police officers are still too often second-guessed and penalized for doing the job we were sent out to do,” Hendry said. “This never-ending monitorship has had over a decade to address the department’s policies and procedures in this area, but the answer always seems to come back to hammering the cops on the streets. This is yet another factor driving talented cops away from this job.”
Saman Sisay, a staff lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said it’s obvious the NYPD “is failing to address unconstitutional conduct by officers.”
“New Yorkers, especially Black and Brown New Yorkers, continue to bear the burden of these failures,” Sisay said. “It is perfectly clear that there is a need for real transparency and accountability because the police should not be trusted to police themselves.”
Stops in the city reached a high of 686,000 in 2011 and fell more than 90% by the time Mayor Bill de Blasio was in office.
They have increased during Mayor Adams’ administration during a parallel increase in enforcement of quality-of-life offenses, moves that have sparked criticism from defense and civil rights lawyers and advocates.
In June, the Daily News reported a federal monitorship of the NYPD shows no sign of ending, in part because officers in specialized units, such as the Neighborhood Safety Teams, had reasonable suspicion in only 69% of the stops analyzed by the monitor in 2023.
Civil rights lawyer Joel Berger said that as comprehensive as the new report is, nothing will change unless the final decision for all misconduct cases is in the hands of “a truly independent” Civilian Complaint Review Board, not the police commissioner.
“Legislation to this effect has been stalled in the [state] Legislature for many years,” Berger said. “In light of this report, it must be passed now.”
Yates’ report is based on 224 substantiated stop-and-frisk misconduct allegations that were prosecuted by the Civilian Complaint Review Board or by the NYPD itself. The allegations involved 91 officers in incidents between early 2021 and March 2022.