NYPD officers accused of wrongdoing will now be able to watch all video that could come up in a misconduct interview before responding to questions from investigators for the city’s police oversight agency, according to an agency spokesperson and a staff email shared with Gothamist.
Officers are already able to view police body camera footage before their interviews with the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which investigates allegations of excessive force, offensive language, racial profiling and several other types of misconduct. Going forward, they will also be able to watch surveillance footage, bystander videos and other video recordings that investigators plan to ask them about before giving their versions of what happened.
The new policy, which Gothamist has reviewed, requires watchdog employees to show officers and their representatives any videos that will come up during an interview ahead of time, if officers say they want to see it. Officers will also be allowed to confer with their attorneys in private after viewing the footage.
Some agency staff, attorneys and policy experts say that could make it easier for officers to lie to investigators to avoid discipline. The CCRB has found nearly 150 instances in which police made false or misleading official statements since the agency was given the power to charge officers for lying to the watchdog's investigators in 2020, according to agency data.
“Using video is an incredibly important way to hold officers accountable for their misconduct and their false statements,” said Andrew Case, former director of communications and government relations for the CCRB.
Case is now senior counsel for the advocacy group LatinoJustice, which published a report last year that found NYPD officers who lie to the CCRB rarely face punishment for doing so.
"Frequently what happens in CCRB interviews is that the officer will go in and say something that's a lie to the interviewer. And at the conclusion of the investigation, the CCRB will recommend charges against the officer based on the fact that they didn't tell the truth,” said Gideon Oliver, an attorney who represents people suing NYPD officers in use of force cases. “And if the officer can view the camera footage beforehand, then they're going to craft a lie to better conform to what is or is not in the footage."
A CCRB spokesperson said in a statement that the agency updated its policy after negotiating with the police department and unions.
“This new policy balances officers’ right to effective representation while maintaining the CCRB’s ability to conduct effective and fair interviews of members of service,” the spokesperson said.
The NYPD, Police Benevolent Association and the Sergeants Benevolent Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The CCRB’s decision to make it easier for officers to see video comes amid the watchdog agency’s own fight for more access to body camera footage, which investigators currently have to request from the department.
The City Council is considering legislation that would grant them direct access to body camera video. The watchdog agency says that would make it easier for staff to investigate their cases, instead of having to wait for police to turn over video — a convoluted process that sometimes turns up the wrong footage or no footage at all. But it was proposed months ago and has yet to go to the floor for a vote.
Christopher Werth contributed reporting.
