The amount of lawsuits against the NYPD by the end of 2017 amounted to $308,2 million the Major part of the claims of citizens — unlawful arrests and use of force. The legal aid society has created an electronic database CAPstat, which takes into account all filed lawsuits against the police. The amount of information is large, but due to the filter settings, you can easily find officer name and surname or by type of violation.
$308,2 million paid to new York in 2017 on the claims of the victims of police lawlessness
Gothamist examined a database of CAPstat and have identified the top Ten. These police are the most expensive cost to the city subject to lawsuits against them.
44 claim and $524 thousand of compensation paid to nationals — 1st place went to detective Abdiel Anderson from the Department of narcotics in the Bronx. 30 claims concerned the use of excessive force against detainees.
In the second place Brooklyn and Sergeant David Griko from the patrol police with 32 claims and $343 252 judicial payments. Griko in good standing with the commanders, and was recently promoted to Sergeant. It is a good employee, often facing the service overtime. But it is interesting that with all the bonuses for overtime Griko in 2017 earned only $190 thousand which is almost two times less than it earned to his victims. Patrol Griko is widely known due to the incident with the detention of famous rapper and was named Daily News «Bullethead».
In conventional top 10 officers of the penalty box from Gothamist the lead Department for combating drugs in the Bronx. In the first ten were 5 officers, three of them from the Department for combating drugs in Brooklyn.
The police community reacted negatively to this news. Patrick Lynch of the Charity Association patrol officers said on Twitter: «the Vast majority of lawsuits against the police are baseless, they are filed in the hope of receiving payment from the city. Public defenders know that accusations are not facts, but this does not prevent them to use these baseless claims to try to distract and confuse judges and juries, turning the trials of drug traffickers, armed robbers, investigations against the police officers who drew them to justice.»
«By publishing this database online, they will be doing even greater damage: anyone with a grudge against cops will be free to peruse the false & frivolous allegations against specific officers & use them as inspiration for a campaign of harassment, intimidation or worse.» (4/4)
NYC PBA (@NYCPBA) March 6, 2019
Lynch also warned that the publication of this database can provoke harassment or intimidation. Recently appeared information about the plans of the members of the gang MS-13 to organize violence on police officers in new York. In this situation any information about police free can put them at risk.
But according to the Manager of the project of the legal aid Society Julie Ciccolini, who oversaw the project CAPstat, such databases published in Chicago and Philadelphia, but it has not led to any harassment of the officers. On the contrary, in her opinion, the disclosure contributed to the growth of public confidence in the police Department:
«We’re trying to shed light on the extent of police misconduct and the degree of responsibility for it. To the public it is important to see how big this problem is, to begin to put pressure on government officials, forcing them to do something».
