MAYOR GIULIANI ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL FUNDING AND PERSONNEL FOR CCRB
CCRB Staffing Increased by 20 Percent; $1.5 Million Added to Budget
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today announced a series of initiatives designed to enhance and improve the operation of the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). These initiatives include an increase in the agency's budget and headcount, including the hiring of experienced investigators who have law enforcement and investigative backgrounds.
"I continue to believe that the most effective and efficient way to investigate police misconduct is from within the Police Department by police investigators," Mayor Giuliani said. "However, since the law mandates a Civilian Complaint Review Board, it should be given the resources necessary to accomplish its legislative mission in an efficient and effective manner. Accordingly, after consulting with board members of the CCRB, members of the Mayoral Task Force on Police/Community Relations and Police Commissioner Howard Safir, I am announcing today a number of steps designed to improve the CCRB's performance including an increased budget and staff. Over the next year, I will examine the performance of the CCRB to determine whether the initiatives announced today have sufficiently improved the timeliness and effectiveness of CCRB's investigation of complaints."
- Creation of eight (8) administrative investigative positions within the management ranks of the CCRB to give the agency an opportunity to recruit and employ persons with substantial law enforcement/investigative experience. The administrative investigators will provide enhanced supervision for the eight (8) investigative teams in the CCRB; assist in the training of investigators; and, prioritize and assign incoming complaints to the investigative teams to ensure prompt and appropriate attention to the more serious complaints received by the agency.
- Creation of eight (8) supervisory investigative positions within the investigative unit of the agency allowing the agency to hire more experienced investigators for each investigative team to help handle more serious and/or difficult investigations. These individuals will also be involved in the day-to-day supervision of investigators within their teams.
- Restructuring of the current investigative unit to enhance the career path opportunities for the confidential investigators currently employed by the agency so as to improve CCRB's ability to retain qualified entry level investigators.
- Addition of two (2) research analysts to the CCRB management structure to enhance the agency's analytical capacity.
- Addition of two (2) community liaison/public education assistants to the agency.
- Increase the clerical staff and support services budget of the CCRB to assist the additional personnel.
- The NYPD will expand its training program for CCRB investigators.
- The CCRB will adopt internal management timeframes for the investigation and review of CCRB complaints to ensure timely resolution/referral of complaints.
- The CCRB and the Police Department will work out a protocol to ensure the prompt case status notification to CCRB complainants.
"Police Commissioner Howard Safir and I will also continue to press Albany for legislation that would increase the statute of limitations to allow the Police Department to commence disciplinary proceedings against officers charged with wrongdoing from 18 months to 36 months," the Mayor added. "We will also continue to seek passage of legislation that would deny officers charged with a felony from returning to the Department's payroll until charges are resolved instead of the present 30 day suspension limit."
Police Commissioner Howard Safir said, "Each of these steps announced today will go a long way in improving the quality of investigations by the CCRB. These steps will also further the Department's ability to work together with the CCRB to ensure that the public continues to have confidence in the civilian complaint system."
In the first six months of 1997, the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), with the commitment and the leadership of its Chair, Mel Barkan, and its Executive Director, Gene Lopez, has taken significant steps to improve the efficiency of the agency:
- As a result of aggressive recruitment efforts, the agency achieved its full headcount of investigators for the first time since the agency's inception in 1993.
- The average caseload per investigator was reduced by 50% from 46 cases per investigator to 23 cases per investigator.
- The backlog of CCRB complaints (cases five months or older) was reduced by 55.2% (from 2,517 to 1,127 cases) and its overall docket was reduced by 42.7% (from 3,325 cases to 1,916 cases).
The resources added today to the CCRB will build on the achievements made by the agency in recent months.
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