The president of the largest police union in New York City is asking city leaders to take action against an oversight board charged with investigating complaints against police officers in the city.
Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, sent a letter to New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill and Mayor Bill de Blasio requesting changes to the Civilian Complaint Review Board after confidential information of multiple police officers made its way to the press, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The liberal-leaning ThinkProgress published a piece on March 21, detailing disciplinary records of a police officer involved in Eric Garner’s death — a widely reported police incident that resulted in the 43-year-old black man’s death.
“The leak of such information is simply another demonstration of the CCRB’s inability to function in the fair and impartial manner prescribed by the City Charter,” Lynch said after the police officer’s disciplinary records appeared on the website. “It is an agency that actively solicits complaints, places pressure on citizens to continue questionable claims and presides over a system that encourages the pursuit of false, unsworn allegations,” Lynch continued.
The review board fired the member who leaked the disciplinary records, but that was not enough for Lynch, who issued a second statement after the firing. “The firing of the leaker is a positive first step, but the release of a police officer’s confidential personnel records is still a crime that should be thoroughly investigated,” Lynch said March 23, adding that the leaker should be prosecuted if necessary.
Lynch ramped up the rhetoric after confidential records were released in a second leak, saying on March 28, “there needs to be a criminal investigation and prosecution for all of the parties responsible” for the leaks.
The leaks are not the result of a rogue employee,” Lynch said in the letter, according to the Wall Street Journal. “But rather symptomatic of a culture indifferent to the breaking of laws and violations of the City Charter language that mandates the [review board] impartiality.”
The review board responded to the police union’s letter, telling the Wall Street Journal that the “CCRB is committed to impartial and independent investigations that ensure a fair and just outcome for civilians and police officers alike.”
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