Public Employee Press

CCRB hiring investigators for expanded role

The historic transfer of the power to prosecute police misconduct to the Civilian Complaint Review Board is increasing the ranks of CCRB Investigators in Local 1113. Under an agreement announced March 27 between the independent agency and the Police Dept., CCRB lawyers will have prosecutorial authority where police misconduct is substantiated, but only the police commissioner can actually impose discipline.

To implement the new policy, CCRB recently hired 18 more Investigators and plans to add another 25 and more lawyers. While the union welcomes the new members, it has questions about the effects of the agency's new powers on members.

"This change expands the Investigator's job from recommending prosecution, subject to change by the police commissioner, to actually prosecuting Officers," said Local 1113 President Deborah Pitts.

CCRB investigates all allegations of police misconduct, from excessive force to offensive language. According to the Citizens Union, a watchdog group, from 2002 to 2010 the CCRB recommended that 2,078 Officers receive the most severe penalty, but that punishment was only given to 151 cops.

"My members already have extensive caseloads of police investigations; prosecuting Officers calls for more hiring and more training," Pitts said. "But if the Police Commissioner can still override an Investigator, what did the public gain?"

Bloomberg's announcement may be public relations spin to assuage the public's growing mistrust of police and lack of confidence in these proceedings, or it may hint at a rift between the mayor and Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

"The bottom line is Kelly decides whether to take action in any disciplinary case," said White Collar Division Director Mike Riggio.

With unemployment still high, new hiring is a positive step, "but there's a lot of room here for making an already difficult job more complicated," Pitts said. Members are concerned that prosecuting cops could expose them to being investigated for just doing their job, she added.