New York Post

Perjury for lies against Finest

- By SHAWN COHEN and BOB FREDERICKS scohen@nypost.com

The Civilian Complaint Review Board is sick of people lying about police misconduct — and wants to make complainan­ts sign a document warning them that they could be hit with perjury charges for filing false claims, officials told The Post on Thursday.

Those who are caught fabricatin­g accounts of police abuse could then be reported to the cops or a DA’s office for potential prosecutio­n.

“This agency has failed to do its job in the past and this is one aspect of that,” said CCRB Chairman Richard Emery.

“We want to enhance the integrity of the process. One way to do that is to make clear there may be consequenc­es to lying to us, serious consequenc­es.”

People who level complaints about cops with the CCRB must then do an inperson interview with an investigat­or.

They currently sign a document swearing everything they said was true, but it does not specify potential consequenc­es — and Emery said no one has ever been prosecuted for lying to the board.

He said stronger wording on the forms will help weed out the bogus allegation­s.

“I would favor warning people,” Emery said.

CCRB member Bishop Mitch ell Taylor added, “That kind of warning triggers a truth serum.”

Once the new language is drafted, it would be discussed at a public meeting and then voted on by the full board. There are normally 13 members, but the CCRB currently has three vacancies.

Patrolmen’s Benevolent Associatio­n President Patrick Lynch, who has been pressuring the CCRB for the change, said that he’ll believe it when he sees it.

“We will watch with great interest the reaction to these proposals and the end result will show us if they intend to be serious about civilian complaints in the future or if they will continue down the same, inept, copbashing road,” the union leader said.

At least one CCRB member ex pressed doubts about the proposal.

“I don’t know whether that would be a good thing,” Dan Gitner said at a meeting Wednesday.

In 2014, the board received 4,779 complaints. Of those, 1,922 were fully investigat­ed. Only 335 were ultimately deemed legitimate.

In 1,443 cases, officers were either exonerated, or the claims were found to be un founded or unsubstant­iated.

Others remained unresolved because the cop was never ID’d.

The board angered cops this year with a plan that would allow people to file antipolice complaints in their City Council members’ district offices, rather than go the the main CCRB facility in lower Manhattan.

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