Although New Yorker politicians consider themselves the national leader in civil rights, New York still ranks third in the nation for wrongful convictions — and New York City has the third-highest number of exonerations nationwide. Each case represents a life derailed: families broken, years stolen, careers destroyed, childhoods lived without a parent.
Behind many of these injustices is a familiar culprit: law-enforcement misconduct. Officers with long, documented histories of dishonesty or abuse — the same patterns uncovered by NYS AG Letitia James — remain on the job, cycling innocent people like me into the criminal-justice system. As reported in Black Westchester Magazine, I have been one of far too many New Yorkers where “official police misconduct was acknowledged, yet no mandatory case review followed. For defendants who are unjustly arrested, this lack of follow-through is not a technical oversight; it is a civil-rights failure.”
Fixing a ‘Loophole’ at the Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office
In 2022, the Attorney General’s Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office (LEMIO) began naming what police agencies refused to: Pattern Misconduct Officers whose repeated violations make every case they touch suspect. LEMIO’s mandate is strong on paper, but structurally flawed. It can investigate and recommend reforms — but cannot require action. Recommendations don’t overturn convictions, compel prosecutors to review tainted cases, or free the innocent.
This imbalance was underscored when a judge recently dismissed the Attorney General’s indictment in a high-profile police-misconduct case. Whatever one thinks of the specifics, it highlights a broader truth: we can’t claim justice while ignoring officers with documented histories of injustice.
Today, even when the state flags an officer as a serial abuser of power, District Attorneys have no legal obligation to revisit the cases that officer handled. Someone can sit in prison for life even if the arresting officer has a long pattern of misconduct. Some DAs review cases — many do not. This is personal to me: as a disabled New Yorker, I now face 45 days in jail despite my arresting officer having 25 misconduct complaints dating back to 2008.
Worse, LEMIO’s findings only cover two years of misconduct. People prosecuted a decade ago by the same officers have no pathway to mandatory review unless they can afford years of litigation. Justice shouldn’t have a two-year expiration date.
The Commonsense Fix – Available at Protectnewyorkers.com
Albany can fix this with a common-sense amendment, and that’s why I teamed up with experts to draft one. The common sense solution is available at protectnewyorkers.com, which I encourage you visit and sign the petition in support (it would amend The Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office Act, which is New York’s Executive Law Section 75.)
The solutions, once sponsored and enacted in the State Legislature, will protect all New Yorkers: When an officer is designated a Pattern Misconduct Officer, every district attorney should be required to review related convictions or open cases within 60 days and issue a public determination. Anyone currently on trial should receive a guaranteed bail hearing within 30 days.
For the first time, prosecutors would be obligated to act when the state itself deems an officer unreliable. That’s not radical — it’s basic public safety. No one should lose years because a DA looks away. No one should remain behind bars because misconduct findings are optional.
If New York wants to remain a beacon of justice, we need enforceable laws, not rhetoric. Albany has a rare bipartisan chance to repair a failing structure and ensure that tainted cases receive fast, mandatory review. Misconduct flagged by the Attorney General cannot be allowed to disappear into bureaucratic silence.
Accountability can’t be optional — not for defendants, prosecutors, or officers whose misconduct destroys lives. New Yorkers deserve a justice system where everyone is held accountable.
About the author: Marc Fishman is a disability-rights advocate and Bronx-based father of four.
