Contact: Colleen Roche (212) 788-2958
Curt Ritter (212) 788-2971
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today accepted with great regret the resignation of Mel P. Barkan as Chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). Mr. Barkan, who was appointed Chair of the CCRB on July 5, 1996, cited professional time commitments as the reason for his resignation, which is effective on August 31, 1998.
"I want to thank Mel Barkan for the tremendous work he has done with the CCRB," said Mayor Giuliani. "Over the past two years, Mel has earned the respect and admiration of those with whom he has worked and has enhanced the professionalism of the agency significantly. All New Yorkers should be grateful for his dedicated efforts, and I personally wish to thank him for all he has contributed."
During Barkan's tenure, the backlog of CCRB cases was reduced by over 75%, the requisite time to complete CCRB investigations was reduced by nearly 60% and the CCRB investigative staff grew from 58 to 95. During that time the CCRB also developed a mediation program and conducted valuable studies regarding the use of pepper spray and hollow point bullets.