More from The Appeal:
Civil liberties experts say the Strategic Response Group’s recent crackdown on ICE protests is the most brutal suppression of protests in decades—and many of its officers are the subject of significant misconduct allegations, including a supervisor with 32 complaints.
Ali Winston Oct 15, 2020
Research has shown only that police can be sufficient, not that they are necessary.
John Pfaff Oct 02, 2020
In the face of a pandemic and police violence, elected leaders have failed to keep us safe and to champion the voices of marginalized communities like mine. Now it is time to determine our own future.
Tiffany Cabán Sep 23, 2020
Prosecutors in states ranging from New York to Utah are using decades-old gang laws to target participants in the largest uprising against police brutality in U.S. history.
Ali Winston Sep 01, 2020
Administrative subpoenas—which do not require a judge’s approval—are typically used for the department’s internal investigations, but The Appeal has learned that they are being used in criminal cases.
Ali Winston Aug 25, 2020
Protesters believe law enforcement is looking for retribution after police arrested a woman Tuesday night and placed her in an unmarked van, a callback to recent events in Portland, Oregon.
Chris Gelardi Jul 29, 2020
The Doe Fund says it pays homeless and formerly incarcerated people New York City’s minimum wage of $15 per hour. But the nonprofit charges weekly fees that can drive their wages below the federal minimum of $7.25.
Though domestic violence is often cited as a reason to maintain the carceral status quo, advocates say there are more humane—and effective—alternatives.
Jessica Pishko Jul 28, 2020
A representative board is needed to check the power of the NYPD and appropriately discipline officers for misconduct, they argue.
Amir Khafagy Jun 29, 2020
Federal prosecutors argue that damaging a police vehicle is a violation of federal statutes in part because the police department receives federal funding. Former prosecutors and law professors say it’s an absurd rationale driven by politics of the Justice Department.
Jerry Iannelli Jun 23, 2020
Memos obtained by The Appeal and anecdotes from public defenders reveal how, for a week during protests over police brutality, the NYPD stalled cases by directing officers not to testify in court.
Chris Gelardi Jun 12, 2020
The use of excessive force against nonwhite communities and people protesting police brutality is further eroding public confidence in policing.
Ellison Berryhill Jun 05, 2020
State Assembly members, senators, and city council members have said they will decline and donate funds from police and corrections officers as New Yorkers fill the streets to protest recent violence by law enforcement.
Bryce Covert Jun 02, 2020
On the pretext of conducting ‘transnational gang operations,’ ICE raids have swept up thousands of U.S. citizens.
Simon Davis-Cohen May 21, 2020
As COVID-19 spreads, Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio are slashing budgets, but leaving funding for police and prisons largely untouched.
Ross Barkan Apr 30, 2020
The Metropolitan Police Department has discussed reducing arrests, but it has not formally announced any policy changes.
Jon Campbell Mar 18, 2020
At least one error led to a wrongful arrest, according to a Freedom of Information Law request, underscoring the need for better oversight of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, advocates say.
Aaron Morrison Feb 24, 2020
Advocates say the narrowing field of Democratic candidates did not seize an opportunity to lay out clear visions on criminal justice reform to contrast the former New York City mayor’s record on policing.
Aaron Morrison Feb 20, 2020
As old audio clips of Bloomberg defending the controversial policing policy went viral, new data showed the practice isn’t fading away in New York city.
Aaron Morrison Feb 12, 2020
A civil suit claims that an officer who shot a 46-year-old stagehand in Midtown Manhattan should have de-escalated the encounter.
Jon Campbell Feb 07, 2020
Logbooks were seized as part of an inquiry into misconduct allegations against high-ranking officers in the division that investigates sex crimes.
Meg O'Connor Jan 09, 2020
Misconduct complaints against officers in the NYPD’s 34th Precinct have risen for three years straight. In 2018, 15 officers had complaints against them substantiated, the most of any precinct in New York City.
Ali Winston Dec 19, 2019
A City Council Committee considers a bill on NYPD surveillance today.
Ali Winston Dec 18, 2019
Vaidya Gullapalli Dec 06, 2019
Investing billions of government dollars into programs that embed police in Black communities will not reduce police violence, nor repair years of injustice.
Philip V. McHarris Dec 02, 2019
Advocates say the removals are more evidence of a troubling and unregulated law enforcement tool, overseen by the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Aaron Morrison Nov 26, 2019
Sarah Lustbader Nov 22, 2019
The billionaire and former New York City mayor defended the NYPD’s surveillance of Muslim Americans and mandatory minimum prison sentences for gun possession, among other policies.
Aaron Morrison Nov 21, 2019
If passed, Question 2 would also allow the board to force police commissioners to provide more insight into disciplinary decisions.
Aaron Morrison Nov 05, 2019
Recent violent arrests in the city subways should make New Yorkers question the push by Governor Andrew Cuomo and the MTA to hire 500 new transit police.
Court records and interviews with former prosecutors show that internal assessments of police dishonesty are rarely memorialized, potentially violating the rights of people charged in criminal cases and sometimes keeping the records of bad cops clean.
Richard Rivera served more than 38 years in prison after killing an off-duty NYPD officer during a botched armed robbery. He was released in July after being denied parole five times.
Aaron Morrison Sep 16, 2019
Police and prosecutors claimed facial recognition technology wasn’t at the center of a shoplifting case, but defense attorneys say it was the sole basis for probable cause to arrest.
Murder rates are at an all-time low in Brooklyn, but one would hardly know it reading the New York Times.
Adam H. Johnson Aug 16, 2019
Three Bronx friends recount their 2012 arrests in the NYPD’s ‘Operation Crew Cut,’ along with their experiences with the court system and incarceration, and reflect on their lives seven years later.
Olivia Heffernan Jul 30, 2019
A new effort to reduce arrests and summonses is criticized as continuing to criminalize homelessness.
Raven Rakia Jul 26, 2019
For far too long, the press has leaned on wrong-headed tough-on-crime officials like the former NYPD commissioner when reporting on the criminal legal system.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem Jul 22, 2019
With City University of New York law professor Babe Howell
Adam H. Johnson May 23, 2019
Instead of building ‘humane jails’ to replace Rikers Island, let’s push the NYPD to cut down on arrests.
Jonathan Ben-Menachem May 15, 2019
New York City just paid Jose LaSalle of the Copwatch Patrol Unit nearly $900,000 over claims of false arrest related to the 2016 incident, but his fight for justice is far from over.
Ashoka Jegroo May 09, 2019
With Appeal contributor Meg O’Connor
Adam H. Johnson May 02, 2019
Rashad McNulty entered a guilty plea in a series of federal gang indictments in New York that have been criticized as racist and overly punitive. But before McNulty was even sentenced, he died in jail. Now, his family is seeking justice.
Aaron Morrison May 01, 2019
New NYPD data show that in 2018 the department closed nearly 500 rape cases due to an alleged lack of participation from victims and had a declining clearance rate for rape, raising questions over its handling of sexual assault.
Meg O'Connor Apr 23, 2019
A new documentary explores the notorious ‘Bronx 120’ raid—and what it says about the evolution of policing in New York City.
Simon Davis-Cohen Apr 18, 2019
With Appeal contributor Jon Campbell
Adam H. Johnson Apr 11, 2019
Critics say New York’s new interrogation recording law falls short.
Curtis Stephen Mar 14, 2019
The records raise questions about the department’s compliance with its protest monitoring rules.
George Joseph Jan 17, 2019
The decision also held that the city’s routine storage of DNA profiles from nonconvicted people in a permanent database violates state law.
George Joseph Jan 10, 2019
Advocates say victims are being pressured to sign ‘withdrawal’ forms to quickly close investigations and protect the department from legal liability.
Meg O'Connor Dec 17, 2018
Officers say the language used now is more subtle but still encourages numbers-driven policing.
George Joseph Dec 12, 2018
The Strategic Response Group was created for counter-terrorism but it's involved in everything from Broken Windows policing to suppressing protest.
Ashoka Jegroo Oct 19, 2018
Arrests that result in dropped charges and dismissals are supposed to be sealed. But until recently, the NYPD used these records to target turnstile jumpers.
The exceptions to the policy change could actually worsen the racial disparities in marijuana-related arrests, defense attorneys told The Appeal.
Raven Rakia Sep 17, 2018
Daniel Pantaleo remains with the NYPD four years after Garner's death.
Raven Rakia Aug 17, 2018
Brian Solano spent over two years on Rikers Island before a potentially exonerating NYPD video interview was disclosed to his defense attorney. But that video is now being excluded from his June trial.
But the witness may have flipped again, leaving the future of the conviction up in the air.
Criminal charges are absent from 85 percent of all forfeiture cases in the city.
Carimah Townes Oct 20, 2017