NYPD closes plainclothes unit in nod to reform

New York City’s police department is disbanding the type of plainclothes anti-crime units that were involved in the 2014 death of Eric Garner and have long been criticized for aggressive tactics, commissioner Dermot Shea said Monday.

The NYPD’s anti-crime units, which focused primarily on seizing illegal guns, were responsible for a disproportionate number of shootings and complaints, Shea told reporters after meeting with top deputies to discuss the move. The change comes amid a countrywide reckoning over police brutality sparked by George Floyd’s death in Minnesota.

A holdover from the department’s “stop and frisk” era, the anti-crime unit no longer fit in a department that has shifted to relying more heavily on intelligence, data and tools like video, DNA and shot-detection technology to fight crime, Shea said.

“Make no mistake, this is a seismic shift in the culture of how the NYPD polices this great city,” Shea said. “It will be felt immediately in the communities that we protect.”

About 600 officers working in the unit will be given new assignments, Shea said. A separate anti-crime unit will still operate in the transit system and the department will continue to use plainclothes officers for things like surveillance and narcotics work, Shea said. The officers will be reassigned immediately, he said.

Plainclothes officers have been responsible for about half of the police shootings in New York City in recent years, according to department data.

The head of the city’s biggest police union criticized the closure of the anti-crime unit.