The Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) can continue investigating body-worn camera misuse after a favorable New York State Supreme Court ruling on Jan. 3 in a lawsuit filed against the NYPD watchdog by the Police Benevolent Association (PBA), the largest union representing the department’s uniformed officers.
Last Wednesday’s decision stems from legal challenges against CCRB’s rule changes filed in January 2023. Along with improper use of body cams, the PBA also unsuccessfully contested how the oversight agency defined “severe acts of bias” in its new charter provisions and its ability to self-initiate complaints without police misconduct victims needing to act.
The judge did favor the union in regards to using the terminology “unable to investigate” when the CCRB needs to close cases without full investigations. Instead, the court suggested the agency provides direct reasoning to the inconclusive results like uncooperative complainants or unidentified victims.
A CCRB spokesperson told the AmNews the decision generally sided with the police watchdog and allowed further investigations into misconduct. Such news comes off the heels of Local Law 24 of 2022, which expanded the agency’s jurisdiction and a reported 11-year high in police misconduct complaints.
“We are pleased that the courts have once again upheld the City Charter, defended the CCRB’s rights and strengthened oversight,” added CCRB Chair Arva Rice. “As the police unions work to undermine the CCRB’s authority, we rely on elected officials more than ever to strengthen police oversight.”
The PBA was not available for comment at press time.
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) called the decision “positive” after submitting an amicus brief in favor of the CCRB during the litigation last year. The organization specifically underscored the importance of investigating body camera misuse by NYPD officers, especially when policing in Black and brown communities traditionally impacted by misconduct.
“The CCRB, of the available avenues, is the best situated to investigate these really important complaints of misconduct, which include racial profiling [and] bias policing,” said NYCLU staff attorney Lupe Aguirre. “So as the court recognized, and as we recognized, body-worn cameras can be useful tools, but they have to be used responsibly [and] properly to give the CCRB the ability to properly investigate and come to a determination in these important investigations of police abuse or misconduct.”
More than 24,000 NYPD officers are currently equipped with body-worn cameras, the most by any American police department. The practice was born out of a pilot program mandated after the (David) Floyd v. City of New York class action lawsuit, which alleged stop-and-frisk tactics violated black and brown New Yorkers’ constitutional rights.
The CCRB sees body-worn camera misuse—which usually involves the device being off when it should be on—as both an independent abuse of authority and a barrier for the agency to investigate other forms of misconduct. The PBA contended that body cam misuse was a “procedural matter,” arguing that incidents involve accidents like cameras getting dislodged during an encounter. The courts ultimately backed the CCRB, stating that body-worn camera misuse “might evidence an effort to conceal misconduct.”
Like most city agencies, the CCRB is scaling back due to budget cuts and will pause on eight investigation categories. But the spokesperson says body-worn camera footage will not be one of them.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.