Metro

NYPD planning to lower punishments for cops on certain charges

By
Social Links for Craig McCarthy
Published May 18, 2023
Updated May 18, 2023, 8:31 p.m. ET

The NYPD wants to lower punishments on more than half a dozen police misconduct charges — part of a series of proposed changes to its disciplinary guidelines revealed at a public hearing on Thursday.

Assistant NYPD Chief Raul Pintos detailed the plan — which includes easing up penalties for seven violations, including “wrongful threat of force” and “discourtesy” — during a City Council hearing on the department’s budget.

Under the proposal, for instance, an accidental firearm discharge would now be punishable by between five days of docked vacation to up to 15 days — with no mitigating or aggravating factors — instead of the previous 30 lost days to possible probationary dismissal.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said back in December the guidelines were “manifestly unfair” and a review was underway to make changes.

But the sudden unveiling of the proposal during the Council hearing took Speaker Adrienne Adams by surprise.

“How are you making this known to the public?” pressed Adams, who added that she had been unaware of such a plan.

Pintos said the NYPD wanted to use the hearing as an opportunity to make the changes to the Council and “those who are watching,” adding “We’ll call our media partners and try our best. We’ll leverage our online communication channels to let the public know.”

NYPD Officers
The NYPD wants to lower punishments on more than half a dozen police misconduct charges as part of a series of proposed changes to its disciplinary guidelines. William Miller

“I think with something that we spent a lot of time working on, the least [the NYPD] could have done would have been to provide this council with a memo prior to having this information coming out in questioning,” Adams shot back.

The department says the guidelines “were revised to better reflect the goal of providing fair, equitable and appropriate outcomes.”

According to the plan, the lowest possible penalty cops face for the following violations would be reduced even more:

  • Failure to invoice property would be decreased from five lost vacation days to three
  • Failure to prepare a required report would be lowered from three docked days to training
  • Threat of force and failure to process civilian complaint both would see dips from five lost days to training
  • Discourtesy would be reduced from one penalty day to training
  • Offensive language would go down to a single docked day from 10

The proposal — which counts 14 changes — does include an increase in the standard punishment for the charge of unlawful search or entry, going from three docked vacation days to 10 and, if aggravating factors are found, from five to 20.

Four categories of discipline — non-domestic physical altercation, engaging in a relationship beyond the scope of official duties, failing to report misconduct to internal affairs and unprofessional conduct in the workplace — would also be added to the guidelines.

Keechant Sewell
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said back in December the guidelines were “manifestly unfair” and a review was underway to make changes. James Messerschmidt for NY Post

The matrix is a set of guidelines for the police commissioner to impose discipline, giving the top cop three levels of punishment by taking into account mitigating and aggravating circumstances.

Reduced charges can be imposed by the commissioner if they opt to take into account various aspect of the case, such as positive employment history, extraordinary circumstances or the officer’s “state of mind” at the time.

The NYPD opened public comments on the proposal Thursday, which will remain open for 30 days.

Once approved, the NYPD will post the final policy along with an explanation of changes to the draft if made in response to public comment.