New ‘One-Stop’ Database Detailing NYPD Misconduct Kicks Off

NEW YORK CITY — A massive trove of NYPD misconduct records provides an unprecedented look at police wrongdoing that has long been hidden from New Yorkers by a morass of bureaucracy and secrecy.

The “Law Enforcement Lookup” database unveiled Monday is the most comprehensive collection of city police misconduct files released to date, said advocates with The Legal Aid Society, which compiled the list.

An everyday New Yorker who had what they believe was a “bad” traffic stop, for example, can use the database — also called “LELU” — to delve into the officer’s past, said Jennvine Wong, a staff attorney with The Legal Aid Society’s Cop Accountability Project.

“It’s a one-stop lookup tool,” she said.

“You can look in LILU and see if they’ve had complaints for bad stops, bad frisks and bad searches.”

Pat Lynch, the president of the powerful Police Benevolent Association union, blasted the database as nothing new, given most of it has already been publicly available.

“This isn’t really about ‘transparency’ – it’s about advancing the anti-police narrative and making it easier for cop-haters to target individual police officers,” he said in a statement. “It’s yet another reason that New York City police officers are quitting at record rates.”

NYPD’s transparency — or near-complete lack thereof — has been a persistent issue for many New Yorkers, public defenders, advocates and members of the press.

Police officials, with strong union backing, fought to keep officers’ disciplinary files hidden from the public by using 50-a, a transparency law to deny requests for access.

But the murder of George Floyd and the protests against police violence poured fuel on the fire for transparency.

Lawmakers repealed 50-a repeal in 2020 — which was upheld by a judge in 2021, prompting Mayor Bill de Blasio to declare “good riddance” — and opened up NYPD disciplinary records to the public for the first time.

Since then, the NYPD and Civilian Complaint Review Board have each released their own databases detailing misconduct accusations against individuals cops.

But, as Wong noted, those databases vary in what they provide. It became clear that a comprehensive database of publicly available information was needed, which prompted LELU, she said.

Doing such a comprehensive database is certainly within the city’s ability, she said.

“If a small but mighty team can do this, maybe there’s an entity on the city side that can do this,” she said.

“I hope it inspires a comprehensive database from the city. It would signify a significant shift from a culture of secrecy to one of transparency.”

The LELU database notably includes more than 4,000 “closing reports” from CCRB proceedings into accusations of police misconduct.

Wong said those files, and others, provide a greater look into how NYPD officers are disciplined — or not.

She noted that misconduct cases that are considered “unsubstantiated” can still provide a picture of potential wrongdoing. What that finding means is that an accusation against a cop occurred, but investigators couldn’t find enough evidence that it violated very specific rules, she said.

“Unsubstantiated allegations are very different from exonerated allegations,” she said.

“That doesn’t mean that the behavior didn’t occur.”

The database includes, according to The Legal Aid Society:

• more than 18,000 lawsuits filed against more than 14,000 NYPD officers between 2013 and June 30, 2022;
• more than 190,000 Civilian Complaint Review Board records of allegations made against NYPD officers, including more than 1,000 full investigation closing reports obtained through FOIL requests and from partner organizations;
• about 9,000 NYPD internal misconduct records, including NYPD trial decisions and NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau records;
• nearly 15,000 District Attorney and judicial records, including Brady and Giglio disclosures from prosecutors, and DA “adverse credibility” records from four New York City counties;
• NYPD and DOC payroll and roster data for all currently employed members of service;
• more than 1,000 archived media articles concerning NYPD officer misconduct; and
• hundreds of DOC staff discipline records.