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Is the NYPD Undercharging Felonies to Make Their Stats Look Good?
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 31, 2010
Modified Oct 31, 2010
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 31, 2010
Modified Oct 31, 2010
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This year, the NYPD has been accused of massively under-reporting crimes, and refusing to investigate crimes in order to keep statistics down. Many of these accusations stem from secret recordings made by former Officer Adrian Schoolcraft. We received a tip that an email has been circulated to the entire Bronx DA's office ("probably by accident") from a high-level prosecutor, who describes their observations of the NYPD undercharging cases:
Subject: complaint room issue: under charging of cases
Good Morning All,
I have been making several observations in the complaint room concerning officers clearly under charging cases, either on their own or based on orders from their supervisors such as charging misdemeanor offenses and it is clear from the arrest report facts that the case is factually a felony or charging a lesser felony than what the facts call for (e.g. forcible touching but the case is actually a Rape 1 or Assault 2 and the case is an attempted murder). Therefore, I need all Assistants to notify me verbally and via email when cases have been grossly undercharged.
I need to know the following information (in an email):
Name of defendant(s)
Arresting Officer, shield number and precinct
Initial arrest charges
Top charge on the complaint
Whether the officer was instructed to charge a lesser offense, if so
the name and rank of the person who instructed him/her
Whether the officer was told the same facts that you were told by the victim
We contacted the Bronx DA's office for a comment.
Tagged
Adrian Schoolcraft
nypd
police
stat manipulation
Stats
underreporting
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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