The Office of the Inspector General for the New York City Police Department (OIG-NYPD) issued a Report detailing the findings of its review of the New York City Police Department's (NYPD) compliance with the court-mandated rules governing the investigation of political activity. These rules, also known as the Handschu Guidelines, are codified in the NYPD Patrol Guide. In the course of this investigation, OIG-NYPD examined highly confidential intelligence files never before subject to review or available to non-police entities. OIG-NYPD's investigators examined, among other things, whether NYPD's Intelligence Bureau satisfied the established standard for opening investigations, met deadlines for extending investigations, and obtained necessary approvals for the use of human sources, which include confidential informants and undercover officers. The investigation found that the NYPD Intelligence Bureau failed to renew investigations before the authorization expired more than half of the time, resulting in investigations of political activity that continued without the requisite authorization. More than 25% of the extensions reviewed exceeded the required deadline by more than 31 days. Further, requests to use human sources were frequently approved despite failing to document the particularized role of confidential informants and undercover officers, as required. However, OIG-NYPD found that in all cases NYPD met the informational threshold required to open an investigation.
The Department of Investigation's (DOI) Office of the Inspector General for the New York City Police Department (OIG-NYPD) independently examined what, if any, data-driven evidence links quality-of-life criminal summonses (C-summonses) and misdemeanor arrests to a reduction in felony crime. The OIG-NYPD Report focused on data from the past six years and found no evidence demonstrating a clear, direct link between an increase in summons activity and a related drop in felony crime. In fact, the study showed quality-of-life summons activity between 2010 and 2015 dramatically declined with no increase in felony crime. Furthermore, with few exceptions, deeper analysis of specific summons categories and specific patrol boroughs revealed no correlation over time to any increase or decrease in felony crime.
The Second Annual Report of the Department of Investigation's (DOI) Office of the Inspector General for the New York (OIG-NYPD) provides an overview of OIG-NYPD's mission, achievements, substantive reviews, and policy recommendations made to the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in Calendar Year 2015. Over the course of the year, OIG-NYPD issued four major policy studies which highlighted important issues facing policing in New York City and offered recommendations for reform. Nearly 75% of those recommendations have been implemented or accepted in principle by NYPD as of April 1, 2016. OIG-NYPD's Second Annual Report outlines OIG-NYPD's recommendations and analyzes how NYPD has responded to each of OIG-NYPD's proposed reforms.
As NYPD ventures into the new, evolving, and high-profile wolrd of Body Worn Cameras, it will need to ensure that polices and proceedures governing the cameras use are fair, practical, legal and transparent. OIG-NYPD has conducted a detailed review of the volunteer pilot program in order to assess how certain key topics are addressed and to identify areas not adequately covered by the policy.