By William K. Rashbaum, The New York Times
A civil liberties group yesterday urged Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly to abolish an internal panel he created to re-examine civilian complaints of police abuse from the Republican National Convention. The group noted that the complaints were already being reviewed by the independent city agency that investigates such accusations.
The group, the New York Civil Liberties Union, wrote to Mr. Kelly yesterday citing a report in Thursday’s editions of the civil service weekly, The Chief-Leader, which first reported the establishment of the new Police Department panel, made up of four department deputy chiefs, to review the complaints stemming from the convention protests.
The civil liberties union said it objected to the creation of the police panel and its review of the complaints because the practice would increase the likelihood that “valid complaints would not survive a protracted and nonneutral investigation process” and would delay the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against officers.
The civil liberties union’s executive director, Donna Lieberman, and its associate legal director, Christopher Dunn, wrote, “We request that you abolish this panel, which we believe sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the goal of independent, civilian oversight of the Police Department.”
Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said the panel would not be abolished. He defended its formation, saying that the review board’s outreach effort had included sending e-mail messages to 700 dissident groups, many of which had indicated their intention to break the law in New York.
“We were legitimately concerned,” he said, adding that the mailing “would produce specious complaints” which, “if executed in an organized fashion, would have a chilling effect on police officers doing their jobs.”
Civilian complaints of police abuse that do not rise to the level of a crime - complaints of excessive force, abuse of authority, discourtesy and offensive language - are normally investigated by the staff at the independent agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and then reviewed by members of the board.
In cases in which the investigation leads board members to find misconduct, those members recommend whether administrative charges should be brought. Lower-level department officials then review the complaints and determine whether to bring administrative charges or mete out other discipline.
The new panel was created in August, after police union leaders met with Mr. Kelly and expressed their concerns that officers who were the subject of substantiated complaints would lose their indemnification in any possible lawsuits brought in connection with the complaints, and as a consequence would not be represented by city lawyers.
But the anticipated flood of complaints never materialized. The board is currently investigating 59 convention-related complaints, and another 14, which do not fall under the board’s jurisdiction, were referred to the Police Department. In one of those complaints, the review board bundled 72 complaints that it had received that were general complaints about police behavior or policy stemming from the convention. Three other complaints were referred to the Department of Correction.
Review board officials also questioned the additional level of police review. And the civil rights group’s letter said that there was no reason to suggest that the review board was “excessively substantiating complaints so as to justify N.Y.P.D. re-investigation of those complaints.”