In the Media

The legal battle over a New York City police officer’s disciplinary records after the chokehold death of Eric Garner in 2014 cast an obscure statute into the spotlight.

In August of last year, shortly after NYPD officers shot to death an emotionally disturbed man in his apartment, City Council Member Jumaane Williams led an effort calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to set up a task force to conduct a wholesale review of the police department’s protocols in dealing with “emotionally disturbed persons,” or EDPs. Almost eight months later, with many in the city again reeling from the fatal shooting of an emotionally disturbed man at the hands of the NYPD, the mayor has continued to vacillate on the request.

New York State didn’t have a law that banned cops from having sex with those in custody. That all changed last week.

State legislators passed a bill prohibiting cops from having sex with people in custody, which closes a legal loophole that allowed police to avoid sexual-assault convictions. Cops would get around the possible convictions by claiming that the sex was consensual.

Bill S7708, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Lanza, states that someone in police custody doesn’t have the ability to consent to sex.

The NYPD’S second-in-command Thursday defended its disciplinary process for officers — and Mayor de Blasio agreed with that assessment.

One activist group, Communities United for Police Reform, said both are wrong.

The response was to a question about a Daily News report about police misconduct.

The first of the four-part series revealed disciplinary cases — some that highlight the contention that justice is meted out with disparities in punishment — and took a close look at how a top chief seemingly benefited from his rank to avoid a harsher penalty.