Senate Bill S2526

                                BILL NUMBER:S2526

TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the county law and the executive law, in relation to
requiring the attorney general to prosecute New York city police
officers charged with a criminal offense in violation of any of the
laws of this state

PURPOSE:

Provides for the State Attorney General to act as a special prosecutor
and prosecute crimes and offenses allegedly committed by polices
officers employed by a city having a population of one million or
more.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends the county law to provide for the prosecution by the
attorney general of crimes and offenses allegedly committed by police
officers employed by a city having a population of one million or
more.

Section 2: Amends the county law to create a new duty for every
district attorney to inform the attorney general of any crimes or
offenses allegedly committed by police officers employed by a city
              

having a population of one million or more, for further action
pursuant to subdivision ten-a of section sixty-three of the executive
law.

Section 3: Amends the executive law by creating a new subdivision
ten-a that creates a duty for the attorney general to prosecute police
officers employed by a city having a population of one million or more
charged with a criminal offense in violation of any of the laws of
this state.

Section 4: Provides that the act shall take effect on the first of
November next succeeding the date upon which it shall have become law.

JUSTIFICATION:

Over the past twenty years, a number of high profile cases of alleged
official misconduct by officer of the New York Police Department
(NYPD) have resulted in requests or the appointment of special
prosecutors to investigate such misconduct. The list of the objects of
such misconduct include Abner Louima in 1997,* Reginald Bannerman in
1999,** Sean Bell in 2006,*** Jateik Reed in 2012,**** Kimani Gray in
2013, ***** and the subjects of the large numbers of cases annually
sent to New York City's civilian complaint review Board (CCRB) that
were deemed "unsubstantiated" based on an internal investigation at
the NYPD (see also the case of Detective Scarcella in 2013******).

In the case of the 2008 acquittal of the three NYPD officers charged
with misconduct in the shooting death of Sean Bell, a broad coalition
of civil rights advocates and public interest attorneys called for
change in the handling of police misconduct and brutality charges, and
called for the creation of a permanent state-level special prosecutor


to investigate such cases.******* Norman Siegel of the New York Civil
Liberties Union (NYCLU) and Senator Eric Adams (a former NYPD
Captain), in particular, called for the reinstatement of the
state-level special prosecutor's office that was abolished by
gubernatorial action in 1993, and originally created in the aftermath
of the Knapp Commission.

In its 2010 report entitled "Revisiting Who's Guarding the Guardians,"
the United States Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) found that the
states' "prosecution of police misconduct has been criticized as being
infrequent and ineffective, in part, because local prosecutors are
reluctant to prosecute the officers upon whom they must rely for the
investigation and prosecution of criminal cases."******** Citing the
work of Professor Louis Schwartz, the USCCR concluded:

"the District Attorney's office has not been, and, in the nature of
things, could not be, an effective instrument for controlling police
violence. Local prosecutors' offices face "a hopeless
conflict-of-interest" in handling police violence complaints because,
in most cases, the district attorney's office must investigate the
defendant's allegations of brutality against the police while
simultaneously investigating the police charges against the defendant.
(Furthermore), the "symbiotic relationship" that the police share with
local prosecutors "virtually guarantees that no local district
attorney-in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, or elsewhere-will pursue police
brutality prosecutions vigorously."*********

The inescapable logic of the need for objective investigation into
police misconduct where it is alleged, and the corresponding value of
a truly objective special prosecutor's investigation for finding the
truth and confirming or vacating charges of police misconduct
necessitate the reinstatement of state-level special prosecutor's
function in New York State. The Office of the Attorney General, one of
the three independently elected state-level officers has the political
legitimacy, independence and historic reputation for objectivity to
undertake such a function and provide substantial justice. This bill
will allow a state-level officer to once again perform this vital
function.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None. This is new legislation.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding
the date on which it shall have become law.

* See
http://ny-popculture-politics.blogspot.com/2013/08/Christine-Quinn-NYPD-
Abner-Louima-Brutality-Task-Force-Anniversary.html, last visited
October 11, 2013.


** See
http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-10-05/news/the-louima-case-is-not-dead/,
last visited October 11, 2013.

*** See
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/sean-bell-scene-probe-intentionally-
bothced-black-police-group-article1.290813, last visited July 1, 2013.

**** See
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/02/06/special-prosecutor-sought-in-
bronx-police-beating/, last visited July 1, 2013.

*****See
http://nlgnyc.org/2013/03/19/ngl-nyc-condemns-police-killing-of-sixteen-
year-old-kimani-gray/, last visited October 11, 2013.

******http://bayridgejournal.blogspot.com/2013/07/george-give-scarcel-la
-cases-to-special.htmp, last visited October 11, 2013.

*******See
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-27-1727642827x.htm,
last visited July 1, 2013.

******** See http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/guard/ch4.htm, last visited
October 11, 2013.

********* Ed.see also U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Police
Practices and Civil Rights in New York City, August 2000,
recommendation 4.13 p.84 (hereafter cited as USCCR, Police Practices
in New York City); USCCR, Los Angeles Report, recommendation 4.7,
p.219.