The NYPD on Thursday proposed less harsh penalties for certain types of police misconduct.
The revisions to the NYPD’s Disciplinary Matrix were set in motion in December when Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said she planned to tweak the penalty guidelines for cops accused of misconduct, saying it would be unfair to punish officers who made “good-faith errors.”
The Legal Aid Society later revealed that last year, Sewell set aside or flat-out ignored more than 400 penalties recommended by the Civilian Complaint Review Board against cops accused of misconduct.
The NYPD has described the matrix, which first went into effect more than two years ago when the department and the CCRB signed a memorandum of understanding, as a living document subject to annual reviews and changes.
Assistant Chief Raul Pintos, testifying Thursday at a City Council hearing about the NYPD’s budget, said the revisions cover nine types of misconduct that now include less severe penalties, depending on the circumstances.
For instance, if a cop is accused of conducting an unlawful search of someone’s home or property, the mitigating penalty could be as little as five lost vacation days, not the 10 they face under the current guidelines.
For using offensive language, an officer could lose just one vacation day, not the 10 they currently face.
And for failing to process a complaint made by a civilian, the officer might just have to undergo training, not lose at least 10 vacation days.
The proposed guidelines also include the addition of five new categories, including being in a relationship “beyond the scope of official duties,” which could cost the offending officers anywhere from 10 to 30 lost days, and not reporting misconduct to Internal Affairs, misconduct that could mean the loss of five to 20 days.
The CCRB noted in a statement that it only learned of the revisions “during today’s hearing.”
“CCRB staff is reviewing them now,” the agency said.
Council Chair Adrienne Adams (D-Queens), the former chair of the Public Safety Committee, noted that various Council members had worked on the matrix and that the NYPD should have informed the Council in advance that it was posting its suggestions online.
The proposed changes are on the NYPD website and the public can comment before they are made official.
