NYPD

Isolated Incidents? A Lawsuit is Filed Against the NYPD Every 2 1/2 Hours

Isolated Incidents? A Lawsuit is Filed Against the NYPD Every 2 1/2 Hours

Isolated Incidents? A Lawsuit is Filed Against the NYPD Every 2 1/2 Hours

By Matt Agorist | The Free Though Project

Isolated Incidents? A Lawsuit is Filed Against the NYPD Every 2 1/2 Hours

If these staggering numbers show us anything, it’s that the time for discussing solutions is well overdue.

New York, NY — New York City comptroller, Scott Stringer, recently released a map of all lawsuits filed against the NYPD in 2013. This graphic representation of police misconduct was then analyzed and compiled into a compelling report which illustrates the dire need of reform.

The report put out by the comptroller’s officer, titled Claimstat, shows that the lawsuits are derived “primarily of allegations of police misconduct, civil rights violations, and injury and/or damage from accidents involving police vehicles.” The report was put out in July and is used as a way of using data-driven methods to try and save money.

However, it doesn’t look like counting the incidents of police brutality is doing anything to save the city money, as Stringer’s original report said that the 2015 budget would have to include $674 million for settlements and judgments (an amount greater that the budget for the Parks Department, Department of Aging and New York Public Library combined).

The move to release this data was done in an effort to apply more transparency to the NYPD. However, as quantitative analyst Ben Wellington points out, the comptroller gave us only a map and failed to release the underlying data in regards to these lawsuits.

Wellington, who runs the NYC data blog I Quant NY, then unlocked the data contained in the Claimstat report and organized it by location, to give us a better understanding.

I started by creating a heat map, showing how the 3,800 police lawsuits were distributed in 2013:

heat map, showing how the 3,800 police lawsuits

While these lawsuits were present throughout the five boroughs, the map shows that they were anything but evenly distributed.

The largest hotspot in the map is clearly in the Bronx, but there are others.  A look at the number of lawsuits filed per one-thousand residents in each borough also shows that Bronx residents were more than two times as likely to file a suit than residents from Brooklyn and more than six times more likely than residents of Staten Island:

lawsuits filed per one-thousand residents in each borough

I Quant NY also took a look at Eric Garner’s neighborhood, finding that there were 109 lawsuits that originated in Staten Island and three within a two block radius of Garner’s home, marked by the red star on the map below.

I Quant NY also took a look at Eric Garner’s neighborhood, finding that there were 109 lawsuits that originated in Staten Island and three within a two block radius of Garner’s home, marked by the red star on the map below.

109 lawsuits that originated in Staten Island

3,800 lawsuits may not seem like that large of a number, but we must take into account that these are actual lawsuits from people who are able to find an attorney to represent them. Many times over, victims of police misconduct are unable to secure council for the simple fact that it is their word against the officers.

As the Free Thought Project reported, there are literally tens of thousands of complaints filed against the NYPD every year and this number is on the rise.

If these staggering numbers show us anything, it’s that the time for discussing solutions is well overdue.

A sure fire way to force police accountability would be to have officers carry their own personal liability insurance. Every time a victim of police brutality is awarded monetary damages, it is the innocent tax payers who are held responsible, not the individual police officer.

If the individual’s job was directly effected by the quality of their service, you could rest assured that excessive force claims would plummet as this would effectively get rid of problem officers who would have to either stop being a problem, or become uninsurable, thereby becoming unemployable.

The dilemma of police brutality however, does not arise from a lack of solutions, but from a lack listening, by those with the “authority” to implement them.

Nonetheless, if enough of us, even a small and irate minority, keep pushing these ideas to the forefront, we can and will rein in the police state.

Source

Posted by Red Pill Reports in US News
After Killing of Two Officers, NYPD Union Declares Itself a “Wartime” Police Department

After Killing of Two Officers, NYPD Union Declares Itself a “Wartime” Police Department

After Killing of Two Officers, NYPD Union Declares Itself a “Wartime” Police Department

By Rachel Blevins | Ben Swann

NYPD Union Declares Itself a “Wartime” Police Department

Following the shooting that killed two New York police officers, the NYPD’s union has issued a statement announcing that in response, it has become a “wartime” police department.

As previously reported, Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were killed by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, after he who ambushed and shot them both, in an alleged attempt to avenge the death of Eric Garner. Brinsley’s ambush of the two officers occurred shortly after he shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore, and then posted his plans to strike back at the police to her Instagram account.

According to the New York Post, Liu and Ramos were “working overtime as part of an anti-terrorism drill in Bedford-Stuyvesant,” when they were “shot point-blank in the head” by Brinsley.

Newsmax reported that the NYPD’s union, the New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, issued a statement regarding the way the department is responding to this incident, and the way it is working to prevent future threats:

Starting IMMEDIATELY: At least two units are to respond to EVERY call, no matter the condition or severity, no matter what type of job is pending, or what the opinion of the patrol supervisor happens to be.”

The statement went on to say that from this point forward, there would be no unnecessary arrests by New York police officers.

Read more

Video: NYPD Now Officially a ‘Wartime’ Police Department after Cops Shot at Anti-Terrorism Drill

he New York Police Department has declared “war” after two officers were killed Saturday in their squad car while taking part in an anti-terrorism drill by a gunmen said to be taking revenge for the death of Eric Garner.

In the wake of the officer shootings, the NYPD’s union New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association issued a bulletin showing that the NYPD are most certainly not taking things lightly.

In read in part, “The mayor’s hands are literally dripping with our blood because of his words actions and policies and we have, for the first time in a number of years, become a ‘wartime’ police department. We will act accordingly.”

Posted by Red Pill Reports in US News