FEDS OPEN INQUIRY OF NYPD UNIT
The U.S. Justice Department has launched a probe of the New York Police Department unit that investigates sex crimes following years of complaints about the way it treats crime victims.
The civil rights investigation announced Thursday will review the department’s Special Victims Division to examine whether it engages in a pattern of gender-biased policing, officials said.
“Survivors of sexual assault should expect effective, trauma-informed and victimcentered investigations by police departments,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. New York City’s two U.S. attorneys joined her in announcing the probe.
The investigation of the police unit comes after a decade of complaints about staff being stretched too thin, and reports by some women that their sexual assault reports weren’t thoroughly investigated.
In one 2019 lawsuit, a woman alleged detectives shrugged off her report of being raped by someone she’d been involved with, logging it as a “dispute” instead of a sex crime. Another woman said in the suit that her account of being kidnapped and gangraped was grossly mishandled by a detective for months before she was told the case was “too complex” to investigate.
After the lawsuit and a leadership shakeup, the NYPD pledged to change its ways. But victims say the promised reforms haven’t arrived.
“We hope the Justice Department’s investigation and our lawsuit will finally result in real change for victims and survivors of sexual assault in New York City,” said the women’s lawyer, Mariann Wang.
The NYPD said in a written statement that it welcomes the review and is committed to improving the quality of its investigations.
Justice Department officials said the probe will include a comprehensive review of the police department’s policies, procedures and training for investigations of sexual assault crimes by the unit — including how it interacts with survivors and witnesses, and how it collects evidence and completes investigations.
They said they also want to see what steps the police department has taken to address deficiencies in its handling of sexual assault crimes, including its staffing and the services and support it offers sexual assault survivors.