Outgoing NYPD Commissioner Leaves Legacy of Abusive Policing, Expanded Police Secrecy and Blocking Accountability for Misconduct

– NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill announced his resignation today after three years in the role marked by abusive policing and failures of transparency and accountability for police misconduct.

"In spite of millions of public and private dollars spent on NYPD public relations and spin, Commissioner O'Neill's legacy includes doubling down on abusive broken windows policing, expanding police secrecy and refusing to publicly release the names of officers who kill and brutalize, launching unprecedented digital surveillance operations, and refusing to discipline and fire most officers who harm New Yorkers - including most of the officers who engaged in misconduct related to the NYPD killings of Delrawn Small, Eric Garner and others," said Loyda Colon (they/them), spokesperson for Communities United for Police Reform & Co-Director of Justice Committee.

“Like Mayor de Blasio, the NYPD under O'Neill has spent resources to oppose every measure of police accountability proposed. Mayor de Blasio's appointment of Dermot Shea, who was reportedly involved in blocking discipline of an officer who was investigated for filing false overtime records, signals that City Hall has no intention of ending broken windows policing or the unprecedented era of police secrecy, cleaning up police corruption or firing and disciplining officers who lie, brutalize and kill - leaving it up to movements to demand this and more. If incoming Commissioner Shea & Mayor de Blasio want to prove otherwise, they can start by charging and firing Wayne Isaacs for killing Delrawn Small, firing Justin D'Amico and others for their roles in the killing of Eric Garner, supporting the full repeal of NY's police secrecy law 50-a, withdrawing the additional NYPD that were added to subways and reallocating a portion of NYPD's budget to fix the trains and to support other community safety infrastructure."

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About Communities United for Police Reform
Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is an unprecedented campaign to end discriminatory policing practices in New York, and to build a lasting movement that promotes public safety and reduces reliance on policing. CPR runs coalitions of over 200 local, statewide and national organizations, bringing together a movement of community members, lawyers, researchers and activists to work for change. The partners in this campaign come from all 5 boroughs, from all walks of life and represent many of those most unfairly targeted by the NYPD.