WaHi Police Precincts Have Near 500 Allegations Against Officers

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS-INWOOD, NY — Officers within the police precincts overseeing the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods of Manhattan have amassed 496 total civilian allegations against them, according to a new database published by ProPublica.

Washington Heights and Inwood are policed by two precincts, the 33rd Precinct, which oversees Washington Heights south of West 179th Street, and the 34th Precinct, which oversees the communities of the neighborhood north of West 179th Street and Inwood.

The allegations against the precinct's officers range from "physical force" to "abuse of authority" to "offensive language." The complaints in the 34th Precinct include an allegation of an incident in 2018 of an officer performing a chokehold on a 20-year-old Hispanic man.

The commanding officers of the two precincts did not immediately return Patch's request for comment.

However, Patch did receive a statement from the NYPD Deputy Commissioner's Office of Public Information about ProPublica's database:

"The NYPD has for many years worked to increase transparency to gain the trust of the communities we serve. While we remain committed to increased transparency, we are equally committed to due process," said Sergenant Mary Frances O'Donnell, a NYPD Deputy Commissioner's Office of Public Information spokesperson. "While recent legislation repealed NYS Civil Rights Law Section 50a, a federal judge issued a restraining order prohibiting the release of records of which allegations against our officers were found to be false, unfounded or unsubstantiated. We await the results of pending litigation."

A single complaint received from a civilian can include multiple allegations.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board oversees all submitted complaints, and uses three terms as outcomes.

• Substantiated: "The alleged conduct occurred and it violated the rules."
• Exonerated: "The alleged conduct occurred but did not violate the NYPD's rules, which often gives officers significant discretion over use of force."
• Unsubstantiated: "The CCRB has fully investigated but could not affirmatively conclude both that the conduct occurred and that it broke the rules."

Information regarding disciplinary records of all NYPD officers became public after a change in state law in June. ProPublica, a nonprofit independent journalism organization, then created a searchable database containing those records.

In June, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a repeal of a law — known as 50-a — that officially banned the use of chokeholds by officers. Before the law was passed this summer, chokeholds were banned under NYPD policy but were not illegal.

The other significant change from Cuomo's repeal of 50-a revolved around the issue of transparency.

A section of the law allowed the New York Police Department to bar access to disciplinary records of officers. The repeal of the law permitted the information to become public, which led to ProPublica's ability to create the "NYPD Files."

Here is the information for the 33rd Precinct:

• Officers receiving complaints while serving at the precinct: 43
• Total complaints: 85
• Allegations: 226
• Substantiated Allegations: 55

Out of the 22 police precincts in Manhattan, the 33rd Precinct has had the fifth most civilian allegations filed against its officers.

Additionally, here is the breakdown of who filed the allegations in the 33rd Precinct by ethnicity.

• Hispanic: 92
• Black: 76
• White: 17
• Asian: 5
• Unknown: 36

You can look through all 226 allegations against police officers in the 33rd Precinct on ProPublica's website.

Here is the information for 34th Precinct:

• Officers receiving complaints while serving at the precinct: 62
• Total complaints: 105
• Allegations: 270
• Substantiated Allegations: 90

The 34th Precinct has the fourth most allegations out of any precinct in Manhattan.

Here is the breakdown of who filed the civilian allegations in the 34th Precinct by ethnicity.

• Hispanic: 153
• Black: 42
• White: 23
• Asian: 2
• Unknown: 50

You can look through all 226 allegations against police officers in the 34th district on ProPublica's website.