Breaking the blue wall
If sunlight is the best disinfectant, darkness is a breeding ground for practices that can corrupt even the Finest among us. That’s the lesson to be drawn from a close read of the Daily News’ four-part series, concluding today, which raises serious questions about the NYPD’s disciplinary process and the department’s commitment to transparency.
A major problem is the 40-year-old state civil rights statute called 50-a, which restricts how much of a cop’s personnel record can be made public. It should be repealed.
Compounding that is a two-year-old interpretation of that law by the NYPD and the city — reversing decades of practice — that removed from public view the most basic updates on disciplinary action. It should be reversed.
The News’ reporting shows that the problems with the NYPD disciplinary process are broad and deep. Yet because of the law and its interpretation, we’ll never know how broad or how deep.
Consider the case of Ruben Duque. His cheating on overtime earned him $15,000 in pay he shouldn’t have pocketed. His brother Juan was also discovered misusing his official car.
Both Duques ended up with promotions, though Ruben was fined and docked vacation days; current chief of crime control strategies Dermot Shea stepped in and prematurely shut down the investigation into Juan.
Similarly, Lt. Adam Lamboy, former commander of the special victims unit, was allowed to retire despite multiple abuses of the overtime system and flying out to Seattle to “interview” a witness, whom he and a partner took out drinking in a bar.
In another category, a whole class of senior officers — the “white shirts” — often skate on offenses that would doom junior personnel.
Many of these questionable cases predate Police Commissioner Jimmy O’Neill’s tenure; he’s promised transparency and a crackdown of cops giving misleading or blatantly false testimony.
We appreciate the commitment and have no reason to doubt O’Neill’s integrity. But this isn’t about one commissioner’s word.
Disciplinary proceedings are being systematically hidden. Until the public can see them — whether through a change in city policy, a change in state law or both — corrosive distrust will grow.