**Letter of Transmittal**

ThePresidentThe President of the SenateThe Speaker of the House of Representatives

DearSirs:

OnMay 26, 1999, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights conducted a hearing in NewYork City to examine current police practices and their impact on civil rightsin the community at large. The Commission had a strong interest in studying themethods used by the city to balance crime fighting with the exercise ofappropriate restraint, particularly following the highly publicized tragediesinvolving Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo. This report is intended to offerinsights into some of the tensions that exist between the New York PoliceDepartment (NYPD) and the communities that it serves.

InAugust 1997, the nation experienced shock and disbelief when reports emergedthat Abner Louima had been beaten and brutally sodomized with a toilet plungerby a New York City police officer in the precinct where Mr. Louima was beingheld in custody. The Louima incident led to heightened tensions between thepolice department and many communities in and around New York City. In February1999, these tensions increased when an unarmed man, Amadou Diallo, was shot andkilled by four officers from the NYPD�s Street Crime Unit. These officersfired 41 bullets at Mr. Diallo in the vestibule of his home. The officersinvolved were acquitted of all criminal charges filed against them; nonetheless,the death of Amadou Diallo is considered by all to be tragic and unnecessary.

Althoughthese incidents are not the focus of this report, the Commission cannot dismissor deny the significant impact that they have had on police-community relationsin New York City. Indeed, it is obvious from the testimony and voluminousdocuments produced as a result of the New York hearing that this city and othersaround the country could benefit from an honest dialogue about police practicesand civil rights.

Inprevious publications by the Commission on police practices, it has beenestablished that most properly trained, culturally sensitive officers handle thedifficult and life-risking challenges of policing with the level ofprofessionalism required to protect lives, civil rights, and property within theboundaries of the law. Professionalism is the key to effective policestrategies. Police officers must be willing to remain professional and upholdthe duties of their office, even in the face of mounting public criticism. TheCommission is concerned, therefore, that at the time this report was beingapproved, the NYPD was facing new allegations that in June 2000, severalofficers failed to respond to calls for help from women who were being sexuallyattacked at an event in Central Park. It is our hope that these allegationsagainst a few officers are not a sign, as some critics have suggested, of afrustrated force, weary of official scrutiny. This report should help lawenforcement officials to better understand that police officer professionalismand stronger ties with the community are inextricably connected.

Thishearing report is legally and logically supported by facts secured from thesworn testimony of witnesses who appeared before the Commission at its publichearing. The witness testimony is bolstered by written evidence contained inmore than 32,000 pages of subpoenaed documents and a statistical overlaypresented with charts and graphs reflecting information contained in more than100,000 individual records regarding �stop and frisk� encounters stored onCD-ROM by NYPD officials. The witnesses included the city�s mayor, the policecommissioner, the chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, other publicofficials, religious leaders, representatives of civic and civil rights advocacygroups, New York Police Department  officers,and individuals describing personal encounters with the NYPD.

Inits report, the Commission examined the city�s policies and programs forpolice recruitment, for training cadets and officers, as well as how AfricanAmerican and Latino officers are treated within the NYPD. The Commission alsoexplored how racial, ethnic, and immigrant communities are treated by thedepartment. In addition, the Commission reviewed how police practices aremonitored in New York City and how police misconduct, when it is established, isaddressed in a systematic way.

Thetimeliness of the report�s discussion of monitoring and disciplinary systemsis underscored by the recent revelations of the Commission to Combat PoliceCorruption, which was created in 1995 by the mayor after he successfully blockeda City Council attempt to create an independent agency with wide-rangingauthority to investigate police corruption. According to news accounts, themayor�s commission has strongly confirmed in its draft report that the currentinternal system for disciplining officers is slow and ineffective. The mayor�scommission recommends that some internal disciplinary cases should no longer beprosecuted by NYPD lawyers. The points raised in that draft report appear to beconsistent with the findings and recommendations found in our report. In orderto ensure viable community support for the NYPD�s crime-reduction strategies,it is crucial that a credible, independent monitoring and disciplinary mechanismbe substituted for the current system.

Asa result of its research, the Commission makes several findings of fact andrecommendations concerning police practices in New York City. For example, theCommission finds that the NYPD does not reflect the diverse population of NewYork City and that most of its officers live outside the five boroughs. Becausemany residents have complained that the police force is not representative ofthe communities in which it serves, the Commission recommends that the NYPDrevise its recruitment plans in order to attract more applicants and cadets fromcommunities of color. Moreover, the NYPD should require all police officers tolive in New York City, or at least increase the preference points for applicantsfrom the city and add incentives for officers to move into one of the fiveboroughs.

TheCommission also finds that cadets may not receive enough training time andexperience, especially on the topics of diversity and sexual harassment. TheCommission discovered that the NYPD uses training materials with offensiveracial, ethnic, religious, sexual, and gender stereotypes. The Commissionrecommends that the NYPD enhance its training at the borough and precinct levelsand include local community members in the development of courses. Furthermore,negative stereotypes embedded within training materials should be eliminated.

Onthe issue of police-community relations, the Commission finds that sustainedcommunity policing�in which officers work closely with neighborhoodresidents�can drive out crime *and*improve the relationship between the police and the communities they serve.Accordingly, the Commission recommends that the NYPD develop aggressive outreachprograms to involve increased numbers of neighborhood residents in training andpolicy development. The department shouldalso enhance its �Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect� training by placingmore emphasis on diversity, conflict resolution, and interpersonal relations.
TheCommission finds that the NYPD�s widely criticized �48-hour rule,� inwhich police officers suspected of wrongdoing are not required to speak toranking officers until two days after they are identified as suspects, impedesinvestigations by the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). Additionally, thelow number of substantiated complaints upon which the NYPD and the policecommissioner have acted contributes to the pervasive public perception that theCCRB is an ineffective mechanism to control police abuse of authority. The NYPDwould improve both future CCRB investigations and public confidence in NYPDhandling of civilian complaints by providing explanations regarding thedepartment�s decision not to impose disciplinary measures in particular casesand eliminating the 48-hour rule. New York City should also establish anindependent board to publicly disclose disciplinary actions taken againstofficers engaged in acts of misconduct and/or use of excessive force, in orderto guarantee an additional measure of accountability and strengthen thepublic�s relationship with the department.

Testimonyat the New York hearing revealed a perception among some city residents thatpolice misconduct cases place a tremendous strain on local governmentprosecutors, who rely routinely on the police to provide the evidence toprosecute criminal violations. Therefore, the Commission recommends that theCity Council appoint an independent prosecutor in cases alleging serious policemisconduct.

Finally,based on the analysis of data submitted by the NYPD, the department�s use of�pattern descriptions� of alleged suspects is a possible indicator of racialprofiling. Although the Commission finds that the NYPD�s use of the COMPSTATtracking system has proven to be an effective measure of crime rates in thecity, the department must take aggressive steps to ensure that indicators ofracial profiling do not occur. The NYPD should adopt and implement a writtenpolicy that carefully defines, expressly prohibits, and stiffly penalizes racialprofiling as the sole motivation in the stopping and searching of individuals.The NYPD should also involve existing local organizations to begin or expand itsefforts to educate local residents regarding the legal guidelines for alegitimate stop, search, and frisk. These efforts may help eliminate thepublic�s concerns about the possibility of being stopped by the police,particularly in communities of color.

Thereport contains several other findings and recommendations to assist the NYPD inimproving relations between local law enforcement and the community. TheCommission hopes that the implementation of these recommendations will lead to arenewed commitment by all concerned persons in law enforcement to search for,find, and follow the best practices, with the understanding that the police canonly do their jobs responsibly when the members of the communities they servehave confidence that their rights will not be violated.

Respectfully,

Forthe Commissioners,

 MaryFrances Berry*Chairperson*