NCJ Number
188247
Date Published
November 1998
Length
62 pages
Annotation
This paper analyzed the New York City Police Department's (NYPD), formal disciplinary system for potential evidence of discrimination by race, ethnicity, or gender.
Abstract
A previous Disciplinary Review Task Force established by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in 1997 studied allegations that the formal disciplinary system of the NYPD was biased against black, Hispanic and female officers. The NYPD maintains two tiers of punitive discipline, command discipline and formal charges and specifications. Both the recent allegations and this study focused on the formal charges and specifications of punitive discipline. More serious and chronic violations make up the NYPD's formal disciplinary system. Proceedings are conducted based on the filing of charges and specifications. The filing of charges and specifications is discretionary in some and mandatory in others. Discrimination cannot exist if there is no discretion. Data for this study was obtained from three separate NYPD computer systems. The data was then merged and reviewed to identify missing case information. For a more accurate analysis the study focused on uniformed employees. Results showed that regardless of race or ethnicity rates of formal discipline decreased as officers' rank increased. The most significant conclusion of this analysis found no evidence of discrimination by race, ethnicity, or gender in the formal disciplinary system of the NYPD. Claims of disparity with regard to female officers were unsupported. A numerical disparity was found in terms of race and/or ethnicity and directly attributable to higher rates among minority officers for mandatory charges (not discretionary), where the decision to initiate discipline could not be discriminatory; is directly attributable to higher rates among minority officers from charges arising not from the officer's performance of duty but from off-duty behavior. References, tables