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Fired CCRB Employee Claims Oversight Board Permits Sexual Harassment & "Colludes" With NYPD
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 7, 2014
Modified Oct 7, 2014
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second from left
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 7, 2014
Modified Oct 7, 2014
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The same day she was fired from her position as the executive director of the NYPD's oversight board, Tracy Catapano-Fox filed suit against the CCRB and the City, claiming that the board promotes a culture that permits sexual harassment, "made concerted efforts to conceal the true 'stop-and-frisk statistics,'" and sets out to "collude" with the police department it's supposed to oversee.
According to the Daily News, Catapano-Fox is alleging that the CCRB's new chair Richard Emery, who was appointed in July, "colluded with the NYPD … by repeatedly refusing to challenge its failure to discipline officers who violate the civil rights of the citizens of New York City." Catapano-Fox says that Emery's chokehold study is flawed, along with the board's data on the decline in police stops.
Catapano-Fox also claims that boardmember Bishop Mitchell Taylor referred to a female CCRB employee as "hot stuff," and that Emery "stacked the board" against her.
"It's deeply troubling that board members who are entrusted with encouraging community members to complain about police misconduct would retaliate against their own executive director, who had the courage to stand up and report sexual harassment and the disregard of rules that implicate stop-and-frisk," Wigdor told the Daily News.
Catapano-Fox, an attorney, was appointed last year by Mayor Bloomberg, and had a salary of $190,000 in 2013, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy.
But Catapano-Fox has also been the subject of a lawsuit related to her management style.
Yuriy Gregorev, the CCRB's IT director for seven years and an employee for 11, sued the City earlier this year after Catapano-Fox allegedly gave him an ultimatum: "work every day in the office or be terminated."
According to his lawsuit, Gregorev is "dangerously susceptible to a host of diseases" due to multiple myeloma and chemotherapy treatment, and had worked from home four days a week for six years on the order of his doctor, a policy that had been blessed by the CCRB's previous executive director.
Catapano-Fox is also the board member responsible for hauling more than a dozen CCRB investigators before the City's Department of Investigation after an NYPD memo was leaked to the NYCLU this past spring, according to sources familiar with the situation.
That memo, which would have been subject to FOIL and therefore public information, showed that the NYPD believes it is immune from any complaints that arise during police stops that involve frisks.
"It would be a serious issue if the board, or the agency, or frankly the city were investigating people within the CCRB who made available to the public a policy memo about a significant police practice issue: namely the frisking of people in conjunction with a summons," Chris Dunn, the NYCLU's associate legal director said at the time.
Linda Sachs, the CCRB's director of communications, declined to comment on Catapano-Fox's lawsuit. In an email, a spokesperson for the Law Department wrote, “We have not been served yet, but we will review the suit."
Catapano-Fox is seeking her job back, as well as unspecified monetary damages.
Tagged
CCRB
NYPD oversight
police brutality
richard emery
Tracy Catapano-Fox
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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