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Opinion

New York Should Completely Rebuild, Not Just Patch, Its Police Oversight System; Here’s How


mayor attends grad

Officers take the oath (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photography Office)


As a New Yorker who has worked in senior management in both of New York City’s major police oversight agencies, the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD (OIG-NYPD) and the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), I can tell you: our system of independent police oversight is more broken than you might think, and the current plans for reform won’t fix it. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan seeks, among other reforms, to place all the New York City police oversight agencies under one roof – a good idea – but his chosen umbrella agency is the CCRB, and this is a terrible idea. Between the CCRB and OIG-NYPD, the latter is the more powerful agency, even with other reforms currently introduced in the state Legislature.

The CCRB can only investigate allegations in its limited jurisdiction — force, abuse of authority, discourtesy, offensive language, and following a 2019 referendum, untruthful statements made by officers. New allegations within that jurisdiction are difficult to add, as evidenced by the CCRB’s long, laborious, and fraught process to keep its sexual misconduct allegation category. The CCRB’s access to NYPD-controlled evidence has also been documented to be absurdly limited for an oversight agency, and the CCRB is forced to negotiate with police unions and petition the NYPD to order officers to show up for interviews, rather than having the power to compel interviews the way that OIG-NYPD can. 

While it may seem that oversight led by members of the public would be more independent, this isn’t necessarily true of civilian boards. At the CCRB, a politically-appointed board – some of whom are Police Commissioner picks – with little transparency about how specific members make their determinations of officer guilt or level of penalty makes it impossible for the public to have full faith in their impartiality. The Mayor can fire the CCRB’s Chair and City Hall weighs in on executive staffing decisions, and there is no requirement for CCRB Board members to have any prior experience in the fields of law, police oversight, or investigations before being appointed to interpret statutes, case law, and the Patrol Guide, and to then make decisions impacting public justice.

Conversely, the Commissioner of the Department of Investigation, which houses OIG-NYPD, is a mayoral nominee confirmed by the City Council and cannot be removed without a required public hearing – because fighting corruption and misconduct in city agencies isn’t always popular with City Hall. The looming threat of being removed from a position can absolutely have a negative impact on the strength of police oversight leadership. 

Similarly, while removing final disciplinary authority from the Police Commissioner, as is proposed in state Legislature bills S5252/A6012, and recommended by the City Council but opposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, is unquestionably a must, the CCRB should not have final disciplinary authority over its own cases. For one thing, the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau has concurrent jurisdiction in many of the CCRB’s cases. Giving the CCRB disciplinary authority over its own cases would result in two concurrently-running and contradictory prosecutorial venues and penalty processes. Moreover, there’s no place in America where the agency responsible for investigating police misconduct also has the sole authority to determine a penalty. Such an arrangement violates basic principles of governmental checks and balances. 

New York City needs a total reinvention of the systems of investigation and penalty for police misconduct, and I can’t understand why New York’s city and state leaders aren’t taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime moment to take a step back and design a system – from scratch – that makes sense, instead of plugging the holes of police accountability with a series of legislative bandages that, in some cases, would actually weaken police oversight. 

I think more comprehensive police oversight could be achieved with the creation of two new offices

One office, which I’ve title the Office of Police Accountability, would 1) investigate, mediate, prosecute, and recommend discipline for allegations of police misconduct against a civilian (the CCRB’s current function, though with a broader jurisdiction), and 2) review and audit the NYPD’s protocols and practices, including corruption investigations (OIG-NYPD’s and the Commission to Combat Police Corruption’s current functions). 

The other, the Office of Police Discipline, would 1) impose final administrative discipline, including and up to termination, for substantiated police misconduct; 2) provide an independent civilian adjudicator to handle trials and pleas in the most serious cases of misconduct (currently the job of the NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Trials); and 3) serve as a watchdog for both the Office of Police Accountability and the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau. 

Both offices would have broad powers and be headed by a commissioner jointly appointed by the Mayor and the Public Advocate and confirmed by the City Council, and who could only be removed by public hearing. Both would be required to put out detailed reporting and data for public scrutiny – because, in the same way that the public should expect accountability in policing, they should be able to expect accountability in police oversight. 

For the first time in New York history, social and political forces are aligned in a way that may never create a more opportune time for true police accountability. Our elected officials should take advantage of this time to not just reform, but revolutionize New York City’s police oversight structure. Take it from someone who knows better than most: Our city needs this.

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Nicole Napolitano, Ph.D, is the former Director of Policy and Advocacy of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and former Senior Policy Manager at the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD. On Twitter @NicoleMNap.

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To Bring New York's Cultural Life Back Better, Focus on Workers and Performers


fixing comedy arts

John Field, the author, in action


The performance arts in New York City are in crisis. With COVID-19, Broadway and Off Broadway stages have been dark for an entire year, many important venues of all types have closed their doors forever, and only just now have comedy clubs opened back up their doors. But, as a stand-up comedian for nine years, I would argue that a crisis in our performing arts existed before covid and, unless drastic changes are made, it will exist long after the threat of covid is over.

As a stand-up, the biggest challenges of my career are never about what happens on stage, but everything that happens off-stage. It's very common for performers to have antagonistic relationships with venue owners and institutional players. Sexual and psychological abuse is rampant, and comedians will often find themselves in situations where they share green rooms with outed predators. White supremacy and racism is prevalent as well. I've personally found myself doxxed, threatened, and blackballed for calling out a venue's association with white supremacist groups.

Additionally, comedy clubs couldn't exist without comedians, and yet the pay rate for a city gig has been stagnant since the early 2000s. Comedians often find themselves doing stage time that is either unpaid, done in exchange for additional labor, or in some cases we're compelled to pay clubs for a coveted five-minute spot. Unpaid work is endemic throughout all of the performance arts; recently the influential theater The Flea dissolved its keystone program after their unpaid interns unionized in reaction to accusations of racism among the theater's management.

Not paying performers is racist and classist; it means only those who are financially independent can have the free time and resources necessary to build a career in the arts. There are many contributing factors that have brought us to this point, but I also think it's time we consider that the lack of protections performers have is, in part, a public policy failure.

Our city benefits from performers. People visit New York City to see comedy, Broadway, and jazz. Watch a New York City tourism ad and a stage is as likely to appear as a shot of Wall Street. Being a hub of performance leads to major cultural power in the world; what happens on our stages proves to be the first draft of what ends up on America's TV and movie screens; Comedy Central's hit Broad City started as a stage show on UCB's East Village stage, for example.

So far this year, much of the cultural recovery policy on federal, state, and city levels has been based on giving deference to venue owners and other institutional players, not performers. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s important “Save Our Stages” campaign managed to bring $10 billion in crucial funding for our country’s independent music venues, cinemas, and theaters. On a municipal level, our recovery policy includes proposals such as municipal bulk ticket purchases and subsidized communal artist residences, described by some as “TikTok Hype Houses.” 

By not recognizing artists, these smaller programs can also be problematic. Right in the name, TikTok Hype Houses centers venue owners (specifically, a digital venue) instead of artists. Real-life Hype Houses are not enviable living arrangements; 21 people living with each other with no separation between work and personal life is not a healthy or productive environment for the creative process, and is instead a product of these platform's unreasonable demands for content production. I've personally lived with eight comics over the course of five years and I can say with confidence that all artists are degenerate scum who don't know how to do dishes.

All culture policy needs to be artist- and worker-centered. I like to use the folk history of the origins of hip hop as the example of how to build culture; in the 1970s, blackouts led to kids stealing audio equipment, and over the years these kids used that equipment at block parties on abandoned lots which eventually evolved into a medium of art that took over the world. This is accidentally a good model for a strong arts policy; directly gift artists with resources and decommodify space, and they'll figure out how to change the world.

In practice, this should mean candidates for elected office starting conversations with performers and discovering our needs and ideas. This extends to NYC Nightlife Advisory Board appointments — currently only three out of 15 appointments are representatives of the nightlife workforce; mayoral and City Council candidates should commit to making half of the board worker representatives, including service workers. Additionally, any subsidies that benefit venues, such as bulk ticket buys or tourist advertising, should be contingent on empowering and paying workers and performers.

Electeds of all types can lean on venues to commit to already-on-the-books federal and state standards for unpaid labor. We can also make the resources that artists need to practice their craft readily and freely available from the city, including rentable audio and stage equipment (available through library systems and non-profits), and also making available directly to the public community spaces for performance such as school stages and empty storefronts, with little to no hassle or cost.

What I've learned in my years of stand-up is that the venues that attract the most creative people and foster the newest ideas are always the ones that throw performers the keys and look the other direction – you can't micromanage creativity.

That said, public policy can only play a supportive role in building strong culture, and ultimately it's in the hands of artists ourselves to band together and self-advocate for our needs. However, candidates should understand that it would be a rewarding gift for everybody involved if they built partnership with performers. We have so much in common; much like candidates themselves, we are the world's saddest, neediest, most attention-starved narcissists.

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John Field is a stand-up comedian in New York City. On Twitter @AmericasComic.

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Dear Next Mayor: Will You Be The Equity-Driven Leader New York City Youth Need?


Dear Next Mayor: Will You Be The Equity-Driven Leader New York City Youth Need?

Student leaders (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography office)


Many people are saying that after this pandemic, New York City will never be the same. 

We hope that is true.

Before the pandemic, New York City was one of the most economically prosperous cities in the country but still one of the most inequitable. Almost 1 million households - one-third of New York City’s population - lacked internet service, a digital divide that has disproportionately impacted underserved communities of color. New Yorkers no longer want to live in a rich city that does not provide poor students with the devices and internet they need to thrive academically. We need a mayor that makes sure students still have equitable access to updated compatible devices and free broadband service even after this pandemic ends. It should not have taken a pandemic for New York City leadership to recognize this issue as urgent. We need a proactive, not reactive leader. Are you that leader?

To be the leader of the city that never sleeps, you need to be committed to implementing housing policies that ensure students and their families have a safe space to sleep at night. New York City is renowned for its notorious real estate empire, yet one in ten New York City public school students experiences housing insecurity. This number increases drastically in regards to students attending the City University of New York (CUNY). Up to 50% of CUNY students experience housing and food insecurity. How can students be expected to focus on their studies when they are busy worrying about how they are going to afford food or where they are going to sleep at night? 

The rise of unemployment and racial injustice are also contributing to the mental health crisis students are facing in New York. Students are struggling to find jobs with livable wages that offer them a viable pathway to their career interests, while racial inequity in this city’s education and justice systems threatens the safety and future of our youth.

Our city’s police department continues to disproportionately target Black and brown communities and engages in police brutality without repercussion. What youth in these communities need is a safe space to learn, but the Department of Education invests in body scanners instead of inclusive curriculum and police rather than counselors in schools. As schools continue to be racially segregated by zoning, unequal distribution of academic resources, and discriminatory admissions processes such as the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), we need a leader who is committed to passing policies that eradicate these systemic barriers. Is that person you?

This pandemic has changed New York City in irreversible ways. It has further exposed the inequities within our institutions and it is going to take a progressive, forward-thinking mayor to find sustainable solutions to these issues. That’s why the next mayor of New York City must be committed to these seven priorities: 

  1. Close the digital divide.
  2. End food and housing insecurity for students and families.
  3. Provide adequate mental health resources for students for free or at affordable rates.
  4. Create more youth employment opportunities.
  5. Make our schools more inclusive and integrated.
  6. Decrease police presence in schools.
  7. Guarantee youth leadership in decision-making discussions that impacts young people.

Prior to the onset of COVID-19, the #DegreesNYC community recognized the need for youth voices in the decisions that impact their academic future. As a group of youth leaders focused on transforming the New York City education system into one that values the intersectional experiences of students, our aim is to achieve racial equity and economic mobility. The #DegreesNYC Youth Council has been working on amplifying the intersecting experiences students have with education inequity within and outside of their schools; inequities that have been exacerbated due to remote learning.  

New York City will never be the same after this pandemic, but maybe that’s a good thing. Our city was working against the well-being of students before COVID-19. We need to re-imagine a city whose leadership is committed to making New York a better city for our youth. Are you the future mayor our city needs?

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The #DegreesNYC Youth Council is committed to making schools and campuses more student-ready by advocating for institutional and political reform. On Twitter @DegreesNYC.

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