THE POLICE COMMISSIONER CITY OF NEW YORK May 16,2012 Honorable Christine Quinn Speaker New York City Council City Hall New York, New York 10007 Dear Speaker Quinn: am writing to provide you with an update regarding the various steps we have taken to increase public confidence in Police Department stop, question and frisk procedures. I First, we have republished the Department order that specifically prohibits racial profiling and are including it in our unit level training sessions in June. We have also published another order outlining a new procedure that will ensure that there is a greater level of scrutiny of Stop, Question and Frisk report worksheets at the local command level. The executive officer of each precinct, an executive in the rank of captain, will now be responsible for personally conducting an audit of the Stop, Question and Frisk report worksheets that have been prepared within his or her command. This audit, which will be conducted on an ongoing basis, will be completed in accordance with specific guidelines set forth by our Quality Assurance Division. In addition, the Chief of Department now reviews worksheets in advance of each weekly Compstat meeting and questions precinct commanders regarding the quality of the report. I believe these measures will help us more closely monitor the daily street encounter activity of precinct personnel. As you are aware, the Department has also executed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), which gives that agency the responsibility for conducting prosecutions of substantiated CCRB cases for which formal Departmental charges have been recommended. The MOU will take effect 30 days after City Rules implementing its provisions are published in the City Record. The MOU also provides for an exchange of information between the Police Department and the CCRB when the Police Commissioner disagrees with the prosecution of charges in a particular case, or disagrees with the level of penalty recommended by CCRB, or by the Police Department Trial Commissioner, in a CCRB substantiated case. This exchange is intended to provide transparency regarding the disciplinary decisions in these cases; an appropriate mechanism for ensuring the confidentiality of the identities of parties and witnesses to these cases will needs to be developed prior to implementation. 1 Police Plaza, New York, NY 10038 o 646-610-5410 Website: http://nyc. gov/nypd . Fax: 646-610-5865 The Department is also in the process of developing a quantitative mechanism to identify officers who receive a baseline number of stop-related civilian complaints in comparison to officers in similar assignments. This mechanism will not interfere with on-going CCRB investigations, but rather support the goal of improving the manner and efficiency of each officer's interactions with the public during a street encounter. Earlier this year I directed, Dr. James O'Keefe, the Deputy Commissioner of Training to complete a review of our training curriculum regarding stop, question and frisk encounters. One of the results of this review has been the establishment of a new course, currently being taught at the Department's Outdoor Range facility at Rodman's Neck, that provides personnel with an additional level of clarity in determining when and how to conduct a lawful stop. The course also encourages the use of our informational cards during stop encounters. The cards provide a written description of the legal authority for such stops and a list of common reasons individuals are stopped by the police. The cards, which have been distributed throughout the Department, are intended to assist an officer in de-escalating tension that may accompany a stop, question and frisk encounter. The first group of personnel to receive this training are the 1,500 officers who are currently assigned to Operation Impact. Personnel assigned to other enforcement units will then receive this training. In addition, the script for the fifth and final part in our series of training videos regarding street encounters has been completed and approved for production by attorneys in our Legal Bureau. The first day of actual filming for the video began today. As I previously explained, the video will include commentary that outlines the methods that a police officer should use when conducting a stop, question and frisk encounter so that there is a level of mutual understanding, to the degree possible, with the person who was stopped. In the last two months, we have also expanded our community outreach efforts, particularly with vulnerable youth. In addition to the array of existing programs that the Department offers, we established a promising new pilot program in the 32nd Precinct in Manhattan and the 77th Precinct in Brooklyn that provides these teenagers with basic computer skills. The goal of this program is to provide these young people, who have come to the attention of the Police Department through various circumstances, such as being a truant or having been exposed to domestic violence, with a working knowledge of the latest business-related computer technologies. Taught by police officer instructors in Police Department facilities, the course is designed to last eight weeks with 32 hours of instruction. It is our hope that this course will build lasting relationships and provide an outlet that might help to foster positive interactions between these teenagers and police officers. We also hope to be able to expand this program to other areas of the City in the near future. The Department will continue to enhance the community outreach program, Operation Conversation: Cops and Kids, that is run in conjunction with a New York City based non-profit organization. The program, which is designed to foster positive interactions between members of the Department and inner-city youth who have had prior interactions with the police, consists of workshops that use performance arts and conversation to create a greater level of mutual understanding. We will hold larger demonstration workshops (based on the existing smaller group model) for newly graduated officers assigned in the Bronx, northern Manhattan and northern Brooklyn. We have also commenced participation in the West Side Story Project, a collaboration with the Phoenix House Foundation, located in downtown Brooklyn, that utilizes theatre arts to reduce youth conflicts and engage local law enforcement and at-risk youth in dialogues about gang violence, youth/police relationships and racial/ethnic relations. Additionally, the Department has submitted for a Federal grant (OJJDP) to support the Brownsville Violence Reduction Project. This grant, in which the Department will partner with the Center for Court Innovation, will support three years of outreach to reduce violence among the high risk offender population. The grant will support monthly 'call-ins" and an evaluative component to determine the efficacy of the intervention. In addition to the Brownsville Project, the Department is also exploring future participation in a New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services grant program with two other New York City non-profits to implement a similar 'Ceasefire' model for violence reduction. This project, stewarded by Professor Tracey Meares of Yale Law School, is an adaptation of the widely-known program with this implementation having a focus on offenders released on state parole. It will be in Harlem, Mott Haven and Brownsville. Finally, we have now posted all of the data underlying each stop encounter that occurred in 2011 on our website. At present, comprehensive data going back to 2003 is now readily available for use by both researchers and members of the general public. As always, I appreciate your continued support of the New York City Police Department. P6lice Commissioner