New Yorkers made more than 250 complaints within a three- year period about police officers they claim tried to stop them from filming encounters with law enforcement by threatening to arrest them or knocking their phones out of their hands, among other methods, a report released by the Civilian Complaint Review Board on Wednesday says.
Proving that an officer interfered with a civilian’s right to record police encounters is challenging though, according to a spokesman for the board, an independent agency that investigates complaints against city police officers.
Of the 257 complaints the CCRB investigated and closed between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2016, only 96 were substantiated. The majority of complaints — 144 cases — were unsubstantiated, meaning there was not enough evidence to determine if the officer interfered.
A CCRB spokesman could not immediately say what type of evidence is needed to make a charge against an officer. Once a complaint is substantiated, it’s up to the NYPD to take any disciplinary action. It’s rare though for an officer to be disciplined solely for interfering with a recording, the report says.
In 39 of the cases, the officer’s actions were found to be lawful, and 21 of the cases were deemed unfounded.
Sixty-one of the complaints accused officers of verbal interference, 119 of them said officers physically interfered by blocking or knocking recorders out of civilians’ hands, and 77 included allegations of both verbal and physical interference. In most cases — 149 cases — the civilians were filming their own encounters with an officer.
Over half of the complaints, 145, were accompanied with video evidence, while 112 were not, the report says.
“Many civilians allege that the interfering officers were successful in their attempts to prevent recordings or destroy recordings after the fact,” the report states.
A lack of video evidence is one reason it’s difficult to prove an officer interfered. The complaints often become “he said, she said” cases, a CCRB spokesman added.
The NYPD Patrol Guide says recording an arrest is not “probable cause for arrest or detention of an onlooker unless the safety of officers or other persons is directly endangered or the officer reasonably believes they are endangered or the law is otherwise violated.”
The CCRB has recommended that the NYPD add a section to its Patrol Guide that more specifically outlines the public’s right to record encounters with officers.
“When police interference with civilian recording occurs, it violates core constitutional rights, and diminishes an important tool used to ensure police accountability,” the board said in a statement.
The number of complaints closed by the board is likely a baseline for how often these types of incidents occur, as civilians may not always report it, a spokesman said.
Additionally, the CCRB is not able to fully investigate 55 percent of the complaints it receives, which includes inference complaints as well as many other types, such as unnecessary force and offensive language.
The primary reason complaints fail to close is because people who file them are unwilling to provide official statements or be interviewed by the board, the spokesman said.
Video recordings of police encounters has become an increasing force in efforts against police brutality, especially after the death of Eric Garner, who was filmed being put in a chokehold by a police officer on Staten Island in 2014. That video, and others from across the country, sparked outrage and protests.
Advocates and politicians have also called for officers to wear body cameras. The NYPD launched a pilot program in April, outfitting 50 officers with the equipment.
The CCRB said in May that civilian complaint cases that include video evidence are 7 percent more likely prove that an officer was at fault than those without video.
