The city’s Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA), the union representing the rank-and-file cops, yesterday filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court against the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), alleging that the latter has vested itself with powers far beyond the ones granted by the City Charter.
“This is not just a case of mission-creep,” said PBA President Patrick J. Lynch. “It is a flat-out violation of the City Charter, existing laws and of legislative mandates.”
According to the suit, the CCRB has self-passed several new rules and resolutions that grant it more power than it’s entitled to. The “Late Complaint Rule,” for instance, allows the CCRB to investigate complaints filed long after the statute of limitations has expired, and the “Non-Complaint Investigations Rule” allows the CCRB to commence investigations even in the absence of a formal complaint.
Lynch said that the CCRB is deliberately overreaching its boundaries in order to support its anti-police agenda.
“These recent rule changes are a bold-faced power grab to create a CCRB regime that is more abusive to police officers than ever before,” said Lynch. “The CCRB is an agency comprised of such anti-police personnel, that they will stop at nothing, they will violate any law and they will bend any rule just to penalize police officers who have the toughest and most dangerous job in the City.”
Furthermore, Lynch asserted that the NYPD doesn’t deserve the scrutiny that the CCRB is placing them under.
“Based upon their own published statistics, nearly 94 percent of CCRB complaints do not result in any finding of wrongdoing by the police officer,” said Lynch. “But these baseless complaints have a real and painful impact on the falsely accused police officer.”
The latter claim is substantiated on page 5 of the memorandum Lynch submitted to the New York County Clerk. As the memorandum points out, the CCRB’s own website admits that, “all complaints, regardless of outcome, remain on an officer’s CCRB history” which can affect their career prospects down the line.
“Still, the CCRB refuses to have complaints sworn to under penalty of law while they are quick to remind police officers that lying to them can result in dismissal,” said Lynch. “The deck was already stacked before these illegal rules were adopted and so, we are asking the court to level it out.”
A CCRB spokesperson said that the agency would consent to the investigations, but provided no further comments on the matter.
“The Civilian Complaint Review Board is committed to conducting its investigations in a thorough, impartial manner,” said the spokesperson. “As per Agency policy, the CCRB does not comment on pending litigation.”
