NYPD accepts majority of oversight recommendations from inspector general

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An annual report from the Office of the Inspector General for the New York Police Department (OIG-NYPD) showed the police department is accepting and complying with many recommendations made by the oversight agency, including more transparency for the Community Response Team (CRT), as previously reported by the Amsterdam News.

“The OIG-NYPD’s Annual Reports provide a comprehensive overview of the issues addressed and recommendations made by the office since its founding,” said Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber. “This year’s Report features OIG-NYPD’s 23 investigative reports and one statement of findings — three of which were published in 2024 — and provides updates on the status of 240 recommendations.

“Most notably, nearly 70% of the recommendations have been deemed accepted or implemented by the NYPD. This report demonstrates OIG-NYPD’s impact on police oversight and its dedication to furthering transparency and increasing public confidence in the police.”

The NYPD accepted six of the seven recommendations for CRT, only refusing to publish unit-specific data for the street team, which police critics and the OIG-NYPD expressed concern about as a lack of transparency. However, the department agreed to reforms such as publishing the unit’s purpose on the NYPD website and tracking deployments.

No information about CRT was previously available online, except in the police department’s social media marketing. A reality TV-esque YouTube series from the NYPD featured the unit heavily. An official confirmed that Jonathan Diller, the slain officer whose funeral President Donald Trump attended last year, was a member of the unit “of highly trained officers whose mission it is to restore order.”

The report also provided updates on the police department’s compliance with the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act, which mandates public impact and use policies for police surveillance tools, after the OIG-NYPD audited technologies like the “Digidog” and Times Square K5 robot. The department agreed to five recommendations and rejected two. Another probe into the NYPD’s drone use led to 10 recommendations that were all accepted or implemented.

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.