Pilot Program Is Designed To Boost the Role of CCRB
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The Civilian Complaint Review Board will have an expanded role in prosecuting disciplinary cases against police officers under a new pilot program announced yesterday.
In a joint statement, the CCRB, an independent agency created in 1993 to investigate allegations of police misconduct, and the police department said the pilot program will assign CCRB attorneys to act as supporting counsel to lawyers assigned by the NYPD’s Department Advocate’s Office in prosecuting police disciplinary cases. Previously, only civilian lawyers employed by the Department Advocate’s Office were assigned to such cases.
The executive director of the CCRB, Joan Thompson, praised the pilot program as a way to improve relations between her agency and the police department.
“This pilot project provides a great foundation for enhancing cooperation and dialogue between the CCRB and NYPD regarding the CCRB’s substantiated cases,” Ms. Thompson said in a statement.
Civil liberties advocates stepped up calls in recent weeks to grant more authority to the CCRB in enforcing complaints against police officers. Groups such as Citizens Union have advocated for granting CCRB the ability to prosecute cases it substantiates and to prosecute police officers who lie under oath.
