Too Many Watchmen

Of all the City Charter revisions voters OK’d Tuesday, the most troubling is the increase in power for the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

This only adds to already-extensive oversight of the NYPD: The CCRB gains greater subpoena powers and new powers to investigate cops it suspects of lying about alleged police brutality or other misconduct, plus guaranteed budget increases. And the police commissioner must now give a written explanation any time he opts to reject a CCRB discipline recommendation.

Plus, the board grows from 13 members to 15 — with one new spot tapped by the public advocate and the chairman now appointed jointly by the mayor and the City Council speaker. That will clearly make the board even more aggressive.

This, when many cops already worry about being hit with misconduct charges simply for doing their jobs — especially after the August firing of Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo over the death of Eric Garner.

And this enhanced “oversight” comes on top of two other recent expansions: the federal monitor imposed under a consent decree agreed to by Mayor de Blasio, plus a City Council-imposed inspector general who’s

also tasked with second-guessing cops. All this, when cop-haters are literally on the march — even engaging in mass lawbreaking (turnstile jumping) last weekend.

And when the new state “no bail” law will put hundreds of accused criminals back on the streets pending trials that are about to become harder for prosecutors to win.

Ed Mullins, the head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, is probably over the top when he says the CCRB expansion will mean “paralyzed policing” — but only time will tell for sure.