The AG and the PD

It sounded good on May 30 for Gov. Cuomo to give state Attorney General Tish James 30 days to review the NYPD’s actions during protests over George Floyd’s death, but that was certainly too short a window to complete a thorough investigation of the circumstances behind hundreds of misconduct complaints.

So when James issued a “preliminary” report of her findings Wednesday, it was disappointing but unsurprising that she failed to reach definitive conclusions about whether officers appropriately handled demonstrations or broke the rules, and whether the department’s strategy was flawed, either in design or execution.

What was surprising, though, especially given the fact James describes the investigation as ongoing, is that James nevertheless issued multiple reform recommendations, and sweeping ones at that.

We can’t argue with her call for the NYPD to further diversify its rank and file and leadership. It’s true that officer disciplinary procedures still gives inordinate power to the police commissioner.

But James’ call to build “an entirely new accountability structure for NYPD” — having it report to a commission including appointees of the City Council, public advocate, city controller and mayor — is a very, very bad idea.

There’s a reason we replaced the Board of Education with mayoral control and never looked back. Commissions don’t create accountability; they give politicians cover to shirk responsibility (see: MTA).

Bill de Blasio became mayor on a pledge to make policing fairer while keeping crime low. New Yorkers have him to blame or praise on the fulfillment of those promises.