Gramercy's Precinct Has Among The Fewest Cop Lawsuits, Data Shows

GRAMERCY — Police in the 13th Precinct have among the city's fewest federal lawsuits filed against them for police misconduct, according to a new database.

The precinct, which covers Stuyvesant Town, Gramercy Park, and Kips Bay as well as west through Union Square and Madison Square Park, has had four federal lawsuits associated with it since 2015, according to a new database CAPStat launched by The Legal Aid Society on Wednesday.

Four lawsuits was comparably less than, for instance, 91 lawsuits with over $9 million in settlements in East New York's 75th Precinct, which had the most suits in the city. The 73rd, which covers Brownsville and Ocean Hill, had the second most lawsuits in the city at 39.

Of the four lawsuits in the 13th Precinct, the database says that one had a settlement of $40,000, where the plaintiff alleged officers conducted an unlawful strip search and excessive force with tight handcuffs, and a second with $8,000, where there was alleged retaliation for recording officers.

Two are still pending, the database shows. One involved alleged racial or biased profiling.

Four other lawsuits prior to 2015 are also associated with the 13th, dating back to 2008, the database shows.

The new database features federal police misconduct lawsuits by precincts, transit districts, among other information aimed to hold the NYPD accountable.

"CAPStat will help New Yorkers gain a more thorough understanding of lawsuits filed against the NYPD for misconduct and will help the public hold the NYPD accountable for reoccurring patterns of misconduct that the department itself routinely ignores," a staff attorney with the special litigation unit at The Legal Aid Society's criminal practice Cynthia Conti-Cook said in a statement.

The database, its website emphasizes, is not representative of the full picture of police misconduct in New York City. The data includes federal lawsuits from 2015 through June 2018 regarding civil rights violations.

With the database's launch, "we join a national movement including fellow defenders, advocates, and community members to shed much needed daylight on police departments and their actions," Conti-Cook said.

See the database here.