William Colon was arrested on September 28th, 2018. Police officers had been called to his apartment complex on Staten Island due to a Domestic Violence complaint. Believing that Colon was the perpetrator, Officers entered his home, forced him onto his bed to handcuff him and brought him to the precinct.
This process took less than two minutes. In that time, Colon was punched four times, and tased twice. Colon, under five feet tall and weighing less than a hundred pounds, was taken down by three officers. He filed an excessive force complaint against two of the officers through the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB).
On April 22nd, 2021, over three years later, his complaint was finally heard.
Colon’s case was rare in that it actually resulted in a disciplinary hearing. Of the over 10,000 complaints the NYPD receives every year, few get to the CCRB to begin with. On average only 40% of cases actually make it to the CCRB desk. The other cases get referred to the Office of the Chief of Department, the Internal Affairs Bureau or another agency within the NYPD. Even fewer result in a hearing with the Administrative Prosecuting Unit. The team of fourteen prosecutors only handles serious cases of misconduct. Last year, the team took on only 53 cases.
By the end of the investigative and hearing process, on average less than 5% of cases result in some sort of disciplinary action. Of the cases allocated to the CCRB, few receive full investigations. Most of these investigations are deemed, “truncated,” either because they decide to withdraw their case, don’t follow through, or simply can’t be tracked down. Even for cases that go through the entire investigative process, decisions can be reversed through both a rejudgement process and, at the end of the process, by the NYPD Commissioner.
The CCRB has a staff of 90 investigators, and a budget of $19 million. Meanwhile, the NYPD budget is over $6 billion. This lack of funding results in CCRB investigators handling upwards of 30 cases at a time. On average, only 35% of the cases under their purview are fully investigated. Some cases are closed due to truncated investigations, others go through a mediation process with the NYPD, or even pursue outside litigation and drop the CCRB complaint.
Of the cases that have been fully investigated, investigators present their findings, a “closing report”, to a Board Panel, a panel of three CCRB board members who are charged with making a decision on whether or not the claim is substantiated. If a claim is found substantiated, the Board Panel may recommend a punishment.
However, Board Panels themselves may be a bit skewed to favor the NYPD. The 15 person panel is completely selected by the city council, the mayor, and the police commissioner. At least three board members must have, “experience in law enforcement and are chosen by the NYPD commissioner.” The mayor appoints another five members, meaning that altogether the Mayor and the police commissioner dictator the majority of the board.
Only 20% of cases heard by Board Panels are found to be substantiated claims. Most cases are found “unsubstantiated,” or “unfounded,” meaning there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that the complainant was telling the truth. But officers can also be, “exonerated.” This means that while the complainant was telling the truth, the officer was still acting justifiably within NYPD guidelines. On average 16% of cases ended in exoneration for officers.
Further, the NYPD often withholds evidence from the CCRB, making it harder for CCRB investigators to create a full and accurate closing report. According to an investigation by ProPublica, the NYPD has on many instances redacted or withheld names of potential witnesses on records like warrants, arrest records and other documents that should be available to the CCRB according to the New York City Charter. This includes essential footage from body-worn cameras, that are often the cornerstone of cases for the CCRB. In Colon’s trial, the body-cam footage of eight different officers were used. Currently, there is a backlog of over 700 requests for body-cam footage from the CCRB.
After the Board Panel reaches a conclusion, there is an appeal process for substantiated cases.. The NYPD Department Advocate’s Office can go through the “reconsideration process” which forces another Board Panel to review the same closing report and investigation. On average around 89% of requests for reconsideration are allowed and go through this process. Around 30% of those cases have their disposition or decision downgraded.
Finally, all the punishments are ultimately under the permission of the Police Commissioner who has the authority to reverse the findings of any investigations and dismiss any punishments.
Mayor de Blasio’s proposed solution for improving the CCRB was to merge the Board with the NYPD Inspector General, and the Commission to Combat Police Corruption. However, none of the three departments are receiving any increase in funding.
Colon’s case is still pending. Over the course of his two-day trial, Colon drove back and forth from his new home in Connecticut in order to testify. He’s been living with his mother while recovering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder since his assault in 2018.
“I just wanted to know what was happening,” said Colon during his testimony.