LISTEN: Inside the agency investigating police misconduct

October 10, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle Podcast

Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP

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Due to restrictions in the city charter, the Civilian Complaint Review Board cannot initiate investigations of police misconduct without a filed complaint. Investigations from the agency can result in NYPD departmental trials, like that of officer Eric Pantaleo, who was recently fired for using a banned chokehold and killing Eric Garner.

“I wanted to know if people were actually using the CCRB,” Eagle reporter Noah Goldberg told Brooklyn This Week. “So I reached out to the CCRB and I found out from them that in Brooklyn, of the last 19 people killed by police, including these very high profile killings like Saheed Vassell and Dwayne Jeune … there were no complaints filed ever.”

Victoria Davis filed a complaint with the CCRB after a jury found Officer Wayne Isaacs not guilty of fatally shooting her brother Delrawn Small. She believes the independent agency should automatically investigate similar instances.

“I just think that that the level of accountability shouldn’t just stop there in the courtroom,” Davis said. “There’s just a lot of things that can go wrong. So another set of eyes like the CCRB when these things happen would be more than helpful.”

For more information on the CCRB and to hear Davis’ story, listen to the full episode above.

Interview with Noah Goldberg at 1:28
Interview with Victoria Davis at 11:36

Our host Lawrence Madsen is a native New Yorker. He graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in History. He is a volunteer leader with the disaster relief group Team Rubicon.

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