For cops, the CCRB is the anti-Clean Slate

It is no secret that the right and left have opposing political views.

But in this city, the left is firmly in charge and they have made it clear that their agenda has little use for law enforcement. The New York City Council, a progressive legislative body supports the Clean Slate bill. The intent of the new law is to allow convicted felons the opportunity to have their criminal records sealed provided they stay clean for a specific period of time after their release.

Clean Slate would conceal misdeeds from potential employers. While police will still have access to a perpetrator’s criminal history, private investigators who conduct background checks on prospective employees will not.

Proponents of the legislation believe the law will lift convicted criminals out of poverty by making it easier for them to find employment. They also believe it will help employers fill job openings that would otherwise go begging. This may or not be true, but like most progressive ideas, it sounds good on paper. Few would argue that offenders who have paid their debt to society don't deserve a second chance. However, given their high recidivist rate, it is unlikely that majority of convicted criminals will be able to avail themselves to the provisions of the proposed law.

Nevertheless, there will be a lot of self-congratulatory messaging coming from our progressive lawmakers when the bill is signed. Then, a lot of money will be spent creating diversion programs to help the criminals keep on the straight and narrow. In the end, the results will be negligible and proposals will soon be introduced to shorten the time period necessary to have the proverbial slate wiped clean.

Meanwhile, the same City Council recently passed a law to give the public unfettered access to a New York City police officer’s CCRB record. CCRB stands for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, a civilian agency created to monitor the actions of police officers, who are alleged to have used unnecessary force, abused their authority, are discourteous or used offensive language. Unlike the criminal courts, where extenuating circumstances factor into a judge’s decision, the behavior of the civilian that gives rise to the officer’s actions are never taken into consideration when CCRB decides a case.

For example: An officer confronts a homeless male armed with a machete threatening to kill pedestrians in Times Square. Not so unusual in New York. The situation may require the officer to fire his weapon to prevent the suspect from fatally injuring a bystander. Instead, the officer uses forceful, but offensive language to get the male to drop the machete. The perpetrator wisely decides to live another day and complies with the order. Thankfully, no shots were fired and no one is injured. 

It should be case closed, but it is not. While awaiting arraignment, a jailhouse lawyer tells the perpetrator that he can get the arresting officer in trouble for cursing at him during the encounter or better yet, he can claim the officer targeted him based on race, color, religion, sexual orientation or simply because he is homeless. That mere allegation adds a charge of racial profiling and biased policing to the complaint against the officer. 

CCRB investigators interview the perpetrator while he is still in jail and determine he is in fact homeless. The officer denies that his actions were biased, but the CCRB’s board votes to substantiate the complaint and refers the matter to the police commissioner for final adjudication. The decision by CCRB is now a part of the officer’s permanent record. 

Too many of these complaints will prevent the officer from being promoted and will even follow the officer into retirement.

Criminals and police agitators have made a cottage industry out of filing frivolous civilian complaints against police officers. All CCRB complaints filed against police officers remain on their public record, regardless of the outcome or circumstances that brought them about. CCRB encourages the public and prospective employers to access their online database to view the number of complaints filed against a particular officer even after he or she has retired, believing that employers will shy away from hiring former police officers who have a high number of CCRB complaints or allegations of racial profiling in their job history.

There will never be a “Clean Slate Law” for police officers because as far as CCRB and progressive politicians are concerned, the police are always the aggressors while criminals are simply victims of police abuse. 

Bernard Whalen is a former NYPD lieutenant and co-author of “The NYPD’s First Fifty Years” and “Case Files of the NYPD.”