Policing the police through the power of complaining.

What civilian complaints can (and can’t) tell us about sentiments towards police and accountability.

The rallying cry ‘ACAB’ (All Cops Are B*stards) has been a standout and lasting rallying cry in recent years. While some criticize the phrase for being hyperbolic, it is meant to communicate one sentiment; the American policing system is broken beyond repair. But, how are these sentiments showing up in data, and is it quantifiable at all? Civilian complaints against police may be a good place to start looking. 

Through analyzing key metrics from CCRB (Civilian Complaint Review Board) data, such as race, rate of substantiation of allegations, tenure of officers with the most allegations, and financial settlements, this investigation aims to explore whether the data aligns with, or challenges, the popular abolitionist rallying cry’s claim about police behavior.

Who is filing complaints against the NYPD and how does race factor in?

At first blush, this data is puzzling and paints a picture of accusers being more likely to file complaints against NYPD of their own race while also begging the question; are officers being sent to precincts with higher populations of their own race? The way the city places NYPD continues to be a black box as an investigation done by THE CITY uncovered in a 2023 piece about new NYPD officer placement.

Other than who filed complaints alone, the data has a lot to say about the percent of substantiated complaints against NYPD.

But to get even more granular, it is valuable to explore how often complaints are upheld rather than simply the percent of complaints which are substantiated.

A Puzzling Finding: Asian NYPD vs. Asian Accusers

When applying rate of substantiation to the previously mentioned race component, the data illustrates that complaints filed by Asian victims and against Asian officers were substantiated 19% of the time, meaning Asian officers were 1.29 times more likely to be found guilty and Asian victims were 1.35 times more likely to have their claims be substantiated.

Tenure and Context

Aside from race, both tenure and the political context may provide more clarity around substantiation rates of CCRB claims. 

Tenure, and thus, experience, doesn't appear to help NYPD avoid substantiated complaints, negating the need for the mayor’s frequent demands for more NYPD budget, training and the proposed 'Cop City' which would “professionalize the idea of how to do enforcement training."

Throughout the years, substantiation rates have seen a steady increase with a peak in 2022 at 52%. The data reflects an uptick in frequency of complaints being substantiated following the launch of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013, and a major uptick  in 2020 following the brutal murder of George Floyd.

This aligns with research and timelines from Pew Research Center which charted spikes in #BlackLivesMatter use during critical police violence incidents over the last decade.

It appears that in the years following these nationally recognized incidents, substantiation rates increased in New York, as well, mirroring spikes following the murders of both Michael Brown and Philando Castile. This raises the question of whether the NYPD is more likely to substantiate claims following national and international outrage against policing.

Furthermore, it is reasonable to disqualify administrative lag as a reason for spikes in substantiation rates because according to the CCRB 2020 annual report: “The average number of days to complete a full investigation was 317 in 2020, a 28% increase from the 248 average days in 2019 (page 27). The underlying cause of the increase in investigation times was the COVID-19 crisis, but the most significant immediate cause was the difficulty of scheduling officers for interviews. In 2019, it took an average of 98 days from the receipt of a complaint to schedule an officer interview; in 2020, it took an average of 147 days (page 27). Staffing shortages at the NYPD and the difficulty of establishing protocols for remote interviews contributed to the 2020 scheduling delays.”

How much does this cost the city?

Even considering the opacity surrounding how the NYPD decides to substantiate claims and the leniency they apply to complaints, there is still quite a significant financial impact to the city in settlement claims. Alone, the nine officers in the table below cost the city nearly six million dollars in settlement money alone.

Eric Dym stands out as a particularly significant city expense, costing the city almost 2.5 million in settlement fees, and he seems quite proud of this fact. On his Twitter account, he proudly identifies as the “Most Complained about cop [in the] NYPD” and promotes his podcast ‘The Finest Unfiltered’ where he frequently trolls the CCRB. While it is hard to quantify the most hated, he is undoubtedly one of the most expensive.

Overall, the lack of transparency from the NYPD regarding how and why they substantiate claims forces us to paint in broad strokes 

About this data:

This exploration leverages CCRB data about complaints against officers, allegations against police officers, as well as data regarding settlement money from 50A.org,  CCRB data dates back as far as 2000 and it is worth noting the discrepancies between the CCRB data and 50A.org data regarding ‘total complaints’ and ‘substantiated complaints’ where 50A.org had higher counts of substantiated claims.

Per the CCRB, “an allegation is substantiated if misconduct is found to be improper based on a preponderance of the evidence. However, even in the case where irrefutable proof, such as a direct confession, are provided, the NYPD commissioner can still overturn the substantiation for any reason.

For all these reasons, it is reasonable to assume that the following data provides relatively conservative estimates and is generally underrepresenting overall NYPD misconduct.