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... evenly stopped twice to beat Louima, who was handcuffed. One of the officers who provided information was transferred out of the 70 th Precinct and reportedly provided with security in case of retaliation by fellow officers. After the incident, the commanding and executive officers of the 70 th Precinct were reassigned, and another fourteen officers reportedly were placed on modified assignment or suspended. On August 18, 1997, U. S.
Attorney Zachary W. Carter announced that the Justice Department would initiate a preliminary "pattern or practice" civil investigation of the police force. Two other officers were charged with beating Louima during the drive to the police precinct, and racial bias charges were subsequently added against all four. When the ball hit a parked police car more than once, one of the officers in the car, Francis X.
Livoti, reportedly became angry and arrested Anthony's brother, David Baez, for disorderly conduct. Baez's family reportedly filed a $ 48 million lawsuit against the city. The victim was black the officer was white. Robert D. McFadden, "Police officer has yet to give his account of fatal shooting, " New York Times, December 28, 1997.
Even Mayor Giuliani, who generally has defended police officers when they have been accused of brutality, stated, "There does not appear to be an explanation for it. " Officers reportedly suspected Domnguez and his friends had stolen the car. After the case received attention, when the district attorney's office brought charges against Rodriguez, police officials all expressed outrage over his conduct. The CCRB found that the detectives had used excessive force, but when its report was sent to the police commissioner, he ignored the CCRB's substantiation of the charges. Officer David reportedly shot and killed Whitfield, who was unarmed. Despite public pronouncements that the department is taking allegations of excessive force seriously, it appears that the police department is still not disciplining officers after the CCRB has substantiated complaints.
During 1996, the police department disposed of 187 CCRB-substantiated complaints; there were only six guilty findings after a departmental trial, with ten found not guilty. Critics of the police department claim this decline reflects police officials' efforts to ignore the CCRB's findings altogether. According to police-abuse experts in the city, the difficulty Human Rights Watch encountered in obtaining information is typical. According to police department figures, there has been a decrease in the number of shootings by officers, and the city's force shoots suspects less than in many other large police departments. Twenty individuals were killed by shots fired by officers in 1997.
After a December 1997 fatal shooting by an officer who was involved in more shootings than any other officer on the force the department began monitoring officers involved in shootings. Commissioner Safir and civil rights activists in the city reportedly were surprised that the department's firearms discharge board did not already monitor officers involved in multiple shootings. According to the New York City Law Department, .".. Concerning notification procedures where a lawsuit alleges police misconduct, the Law Department does not have a formal procedure for notifying IAB or the CCRB of such lawsuits. " In correspondence with Human Rights Watch, the IAB's chief states that, "in situations where an officer is served court papers for civil litigation involving excessive force, the officer must submit to his or her commanding officer a request for indemnification by the City of New York.
The IAB did not respond to Human Rights Watch's questions regarding whether civil lawsuits against officers are compiled as part of the department's officer monitoring system to identify "at-risk" officers, but according to other sources, few lawsuits are even recorded in an officer's personnel records or are disciplined, while taxpayers cover the cost of misconduct. In May 1995, a grand jury concluded that no criminal charges should be filed against the officer involved, and the officer was not disciplined. Officer Livoti was the third officer dismissed after standing trial, although he was acquitted. A Force Monitoring Program utilizes computer-tracking capabilities to identify officers who seem to be using excessive force repeatedly. A Civilian Complaint Reduction Program notifies commanders when an officer has generated a high number of complaints, and a Resisting Arrest Charge program highlights officers who lodge a high number of "resisting arrest" charges. In one case, the department did not punish an officer but the city argued that it should not have to represent the same officer in a civil lawsuit stemming from a beating by the officer's partner because the officer had broken departmental rules by providing false statements and other misconduct relating to the beating.
Officer Frank Bolusi was Officer Gerard Pitti's partner when Pitti encountered Victor Medina and his friends in Brooklyn in February 1992. In the opinion of the judge presiding over the criminal case against Officer Pitti, Officer Bolusi had provided an "astounding" account of the incident. Officer Bernard Cawley testified to the Mollen Commission that he never feared that fellow officers might turn him in: The inculcation of complete loyalty begins at the police academy, according to some officers. Commissioner Safir did implement a policy change in December 1996 allowing him to dismiss officers if a police administrative judge finds that they have lied. But in an October 1997 New York Times article, Commissioner Safir's claim that he had dismissed eighteen officers for making false statements was undermined by internal police documents showing that few officers were dismissed for that offense alone; most who were dismissed faced other charges as well.
In February 1997, two young men were shot and seriously injured by officers in upper Manhattan. Civil Lawsuits According to press reports, the city paid about $ 70 million in settlement or jury awards in claims alleging improper police actions between 1994 and 1996. The New York City Law Department reports that police misconduct, described as assault / excessive force, assault and false arrest, shootings by police, and false arrests (as categorized by the city's Law Department), cost city taxpayers more than $ 44 million for fiscal years 1994 - 95; this works out to an average of almost $ 2 million a month for police misconduct lawsuits alone. Between June 1996 and June 1997, the city settled 503 police misconduct cases, taking only twenty-four to court, where it won sixteen. As noted above, the Law Department states that, ."..
concerning notification procedures where a lawsuit alleges police misconduct, the Law Department does not have a formal procedure for notifying IAB or the CCRB of such lawsuits. " In approximately 90 percent of the lawsuits, according to press reports, the city's Law Department and the police department determine that the officer was acting within the scope of his or her duty, and the lawsuit is not recorded in the officer's personnel file. The city does not represent about 10 percent of officers named in lawsuits, who face disciplinary proceedings. Lawyers bringing civil lawsuits against police officers told Human Rights Watch that they often do not recommend that their clients file a complaint with the IAB because the information provided is often used against the client. Officers themselves do not have to pay personally in civil lawsuits; the city almost always indemnifies the officer and pays. In 1984, the city agreed to pay into a police union "civil legal defense fund. " When the police department fails to take appropriate disciplinary actions against these officers and repeat offenders, there is an additional cost in terms of public confidence.
Because the police department is secretive regarding how it handles allegations of police misconduct, and the CCRB does not provide specific information about individual cases, the disclosure of information during civil trials in New York would be a large step toward accountability. Papa and Rampersant, Jr. were reportedly shot at and beaten by police in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in March 1986. After the incident, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA) attorney reportedly advised the officers involved not to cooperate with investigators, and the officers apparently were never disciplined, despite costing the city at least $ 7. 5 million. After public protests, the two officers were indicted on assault charges and placed on restrictive duty, but a judge acquitted them. According to press reports, the officers were never disciplined.
The Mollen Commission report noted, "Police unions and fraternal organizations can do much to increase professionalism of our police officers... Unfortunately, based on our own observations and on information received from prosecutors, corruption investigators, and high-ranking police officials, police unions sometimes fuel the insularity that characterizes police culture. " Criminal Prosecution Only three city officers have been convicted for on-duty killings since 1977. Each borough's district attorneys are quite different in their approach to police brutality cases, with some district attorneys much more likely than others to bring a case against an accused police officer, leading to an arbitrary application of the laws block-by-block in the city. Police officials claimed Carasquillo faced the officer who shot him and took a "gun stance, " but the city's medical examiner found that he was shot in the back. The driver of the car, according to the police, attempted to drive off as an officer questioned him, allegedly dragging the officer along. In early 1998, federal prosecutors announced their intent to pursue Livoti and the 70 th Precinct officers involved in the Louima case.
The CCRB's semi-annual reports provide detailed information about each precinct's rate of complaints. Bibliography:
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