NYPD officers “chronically” underreported their encounters with civilians in 2023, according to two prominent civil rights organizations.
The Legal Aid Society and the Legal Defense Fund cited a report released on Monday from the NYPD’s court-appointed Independent Monitor showing that only 59% of stops when a person is briefly detained were reported in 2023.
That number is even fewer than the 69% of these kinds of stops documented in 2022, the report shows.
Panelists at the Monitor audited a sample of body-worn camera footage from both years, which led to the findings.
The Monitor, according to its website, is a team that “works to ensure that the NYPD engages in constitutional stops, frisks and searches.”
Karina Tefft, staff attorney in the cop accountability project at The Legal Aid Society, said the report shows some NYPD officers are not complying with a 2013 federal court-appointed order to monitor these civilian stops.
“The NYPD’s chronic underreporting of their encounters with civilians, which has only worsened since 2022, shows a startling lack of interest in complying with court orders intended to keep New Yorkers safe and informed,” she said.
Tefft added that without accurate recording of “Terry” stops — commonly known as “stop-and-frisk” encounters — it is impossible for the Monitor team to assess compliance properly.
“The NYPD has the necessary training and tools to record Terry stops properly, and there is no excuse, aside from willful negligence, for their noncompliance,” Tefft said. “There must be accountability and oversight for NYPD officers and supervisors failing to record stops.”
A spokesperson for the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information sent a statement to amNew York Metro about the report:
“Public safety and constitutional policing are both critical components of the NYPD’s mission, and members of the department work tirelessly, every day, to keep people safe and to police fairly. The department is proud that New York remains the safest big city in America and of the reforms that it has made, which the Monitor has recognized. The NYPD is committed to working collaboratively with the Monitor to address the areas of concern raised in this latest report, and has made drastic changes internally with the introduction of ComplianceStat, to address the underreporting identified in the Monitor’s 22nd Report.”
During a stop, NYPD officers are permitted to pat (frisk) a civilian if they reasonably believe the person has a weapon.
According to a NYC crime report last month, NYPD officers took nearly 4,500 illegal guns off city streets this year through Aug. 31, though it is not clear how many of these seizures were the result of civilian stops.
Still, the NYPD “appears to be headed in the wrong direction,” the Monitor’s report states.
“Despite a court order requiring an accurate record of each stop, the NYPD persists in detaining New Yorkers without appropriate documentation in a stunning display of non-compliance,” said Charles McLaurin, senior counsel at the Legal Defense Fund.
He added that transparency in policing is needed and is something New Yorkers have “tirelessly” fought for.
“The NYPD cannot be allowed to undermine these efforts by engaging in a pattern of inaccurate and insufficient reporting,” McLaurin said. “We continue our efforts to hold the NYPD accountable for denying New Yorkers the full transparency they deserve.”
