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NYC criminal justice advocates demand release of NYPD gang database report
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Nov 18, 2022
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By
Arya Sundaram
Published Nov 18, 2022
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City officials are being urged to release a yearslong investigative report about the controversial NYPD gang database as 2022 draws to a close.
The database has been long criticized as a digital dragnet subjecting young Black and brown men to more surveillance and policing, with little transparency about how it works and how to get off the list.
This week, the Grassroots Advocates for Neighborhood Groups & Solutions Coalition, also known as the G.A.N.G.S Coalition, rallied outside of the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD, demanding the release of the long-awaited report. The coalition — which includes the Legal Aid Society, LatinoJustice, and other local public defender and advocacy groups — also called on the City Council to pass a bill that would abolish the database and prevent the creation of any replacement.
Some 16 councilmembers also sent a letter this week to Jeanene Barrett, acting inspector general of the OIG-NYPD, urging the agency to publish its findings “with no further delay,” calling the database unfair, inaccurate and racially discriminatory.
“We know that your office understands that an investigation is necessary to address community concerns about the NYPD’s database, unearth the errors that undermine this policing tool, and hold the NYPD accountable,” the letter said. “Absent public pressure, innocent New Yorkers — especially Black and Latino youth — will continue to suffer the consequences of the NYPD’s imprecise policing practices.”
The OIG-NYPD is a division of the city's Department of Investigation, which is ultimately responsible for the report. At a hearing earlier this year, DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said the report was in draft form and would be published “within this year.” The DOI began the investigation in 2018, according to a report by The City.
The activists’ demands follow recent audits that found widespread inaccuracies in other local police gang databases in California and Chicago — and lawsuits challenging the tools, such as one in Washington. In January, a federal appeals court ruled that immigration officials improperly used the Boston Police Department’s “flawed” database to connect a Salvadoran teen to the international MS-13 gang and deport him.
The New York City policing tool, officially known as the Criminal Group Database, lists some 18,000 individuals the NYPD suspects of being involved with gangs. Though the department did not respond to a request for the current racial breakdown of the database, former Police Commissioner Dermot Shea revealed in 2018 that 99% of people in the database at that time were Black and Latino men.
Individuals can be added to the list by admitting their membership in a gang or by meeting two related criteria, such as wearing certain colors, making hand signs associated with a gang, or frequently spending time in areas known to have gang activity, according to a 2021 NYPD report outlining the database.
Police consider the database an important tool to solve and prevent gang-related crimes and retribution. Julian Phillips, the NYPD's deputy commissioner of public information, said the victim or shooter in a “significant portion” of city shootings each year are members of a gang, and police need to understand gangs’ size, scope, members, and the crimes they’ve committed in order to combat gang violence.
He added that the database has “strict and transparent” rules, “multiple levels of review,” and is audited to remove people “no longer active” in gang activity.
“Calls to abolish the NYPD’s Criminal Group Database are misguided,” Phillips said in a statement, adding that the demands are a “disservice” to police and communities most affected by shootings. “It would be irresponsible for the NYPD to not understand these groups.”
“DOI is diligently working on its examination of the NYPD's gang database and is hopeful to issue its report by the end of the year,” Diane Struzzi, the DOI’s director of communications, said in a statement. “Since this investigation is ongoing, DOI declines further comment.”
Tagged
new york city
nypd
eric adams
criminal justice
Arya Sundaram
Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: [email protected] or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.
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