Ex-Sex Crime Unit Head Sues NYPD Commissioner Shea Over Ouster

NEW YORK CITY — A NYPD commander has filed suit against Commissioner Dermot Shea, whom he accuses of torpedoing his career in retaliation for speaking out about the department’s failure to adequately investigate sex crimes, court records show.

The lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court Monday accuses Shea of orchestrating the ouster of Michael Osgood, the former Special Victims Department commander who provided key evidence to the city's NYPD watchdog group that his unit was under-resourced and under-staffed.

“Mr. Osgood uncovered serious and pervasive flaws impacting the SVD, which he first tried to remedy internally,” the lawsuit states.

“Instead of being honored for his exemplary service and dedication to improving the investigation of sexual assault victim complaints and the treatment of sexual assault victims, Mr. Osgood was ostracized, demoted, and constructively fired in retaliation.”

The alleged-ousting came on the heels of a damning report on the Special Victims Department —and included NYPD memos written and supplied by Osgood — released by the Office of the Inspector General in March 2018, according to the complaint.

Police spokesperson Detective Sophia Mason declined to comment on specific allegations but provided a statement via email on the Inspector General's report.

"The NYPD respects the statutory role of the Office of the Inspector General to investigate, review, study, audit, and make recommendations relating to NYPD operations, policies, programs, and practices," Mason said.

"The NYPD accepted and implemented many of OIG’s recommendations regarding the Special Victims Division, further demonstrating our unwavering commitment to better serve survivors of sexual assault and improve our policing strategies."

In the memos, and in meetings with high-ranking police officials, Osgood pleaded for more staff, better training and a special squad dedicated to support survivors of sexual violence, according to the complaint.

Osgood said his requests were ignored and when the Inspector General’s office launched an investigation into the unit, members from the NYPD’s legal bureau ordered him to “slow walk” investigators’ requests, the lawsuit contends.

“In particular, [Osgood and his staff] were told that when interviewed by the OIG-NYPD, they should give one word answers, act like it’s a deposition, not bring any documents to the OIG meetings,” the lawsuit states.

“In the interest of ensuring that sexual assault victims receive the justice they deserved, [Osgood] provided complete and truthful responses to all OIG-NYPD questions, and directed members of his staff to do the same.”

Upon the release of the report — which made headlines for finding that the NYPD had ignored the division for nearly a decade even as cases spiked — rumors circulated that Osgood's job was on the line, the lawsuit states.

“Mr. Osgood began to hear comments circulating that he had gone ‘outside the family’ and that Mr. Osgood had somehow betrayed the NYPD,” the lawsuit states.

“Your f---ing memos,” one NYPD chief allegedly told Osgood. “You didn’t have to give them your memos.”

Soon after Shea was promoted to Chief of Detectives, about a month after the report was published, he pursued several means by which to remove Osgood from his high-ranking position, the lawsuit claims.

Shea allegedly attempted to compile negative Special Victims statistics in an attempt to “denigrate” Osgood and removed him from Hate Crimes Task force, which Osgood had commanded for 16 years, the suit contends.

Eight months after the Special Victims report went public, Osgood was summoned to Shea’s office and told he’d been demoted to Staten Island patrol borough, the suit states.

Then-NYPD commissioner James P. O’Neill — whose name also appears in the civil suit — publicly announced Osgood’s transfer and promised New Yorkers it signaled a “top-to-bottom scrub” of the Special Victims Unit, the New York Times reported.

Activists for sexual abuse survivors widely decried the dismissal of Osgood, whom they described in a Wall Street Journal report as a supporter and strong ally.

The ousted commander announced his retirement about a week later, the Daily News reported.

Osgood has since been replaced by Deputy Chief Judith Harrison and Inspector Michael King, whose handling of the unit — which faced a City Council hearing in October over — has spurred much criticism, the New York Post recently reported.

“Neither Judith Harrison nor Michael King was a detective and neither has deep investigative skills,” Mary Haviland, formerly of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, told the Post. “[There's been a] real investigative brain drain since Osgood.”