The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the New York Police Department’s therapy of sex crime victims after concluding there’s “significant justification” to accomplish that and after receiving experiences of deficiencies for greater than a decade, prosecutors mentioned Thursday.
Kristen Clarke, assistant legal professional normal for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and two U.S. attorneys in New York announced the probe in a launch, saying they are going to completely evaluate the division’s Special Victims Division to gauge whether or not it engages in a pattern of gender-biased policing.
“Survivors of sexual assault should expect effective, trauma-informed and victim-centered investigations by police departments,” Clarke mentioned. “Based on information provided to the Justice Department, we find significant justification to investigate whether the NYPD’s Special Victims Division engages in a pattern or practice of gender-biased policing.”
The investigation comes after years of experiences of poor practices by the NYPD in its sex crimes probe and a 2019 lawsuit in which two girls claimed that the NYPD’s Special Victims Division had mistreated them.
One girl alleged detectives shrugged off her report of being raped by somebody she’d been concerned with, logging it as a “dispute” as a substitute of a sex crime.
Another girl mentioned her account of being kidnapped and gang-raped was grossly mishandled by a sex-crimes detective for months earlier than she was instructed the case was “too complex” to examine.
After the lawsuit and a management shakeup, the NYPD pledged to change its methods. But victims say the promised reforms have not arrived.
“On behalf of our clients and all NYC survivors, we welcome DOJ’s systemic investigation, and hope that DOJ’s work and our lawsuit will finally result in real, concrete changes for all NYers,” attorneys representing the ladies mentioned Thursday.
Justice Department officers mentioned they are going to be reaching out to group teams and the general public to find out about their interactions with the division.
They mentioned the probe will embrace a complete evaluate of the police division’s insurance policies, procedures and coaching for investigations of sexual assault crimes by the unit, together with how it interacts with survivors and witnesses and the way it collects proof and completes investigations.
They mentioned in addition they need to see what steps the police division has taken to handle deficiencies in its dealing with of sexual assault crimes, together with its staffing and the companies and help it presents sexual assault survivors.
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace mentioned the NYPD has already taken steps to handle issues, however authorities need to guarantee sex assault victims are handled honest in the longer term.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan mentioned sex crimes victims “deserve the same rigorous and unbiased investigations of their cases that the NYPD affords to other categories of crime.”
“Likewise,” he added, “relentless and effective pursuit of perpetrators of sexual violence, unburdened by gender stereotypes or differential treatment, is essential to public safety.”
A message searching for remark was left with the NYPD.
Max Young, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams, instructed CBS News in a press release that mayor’s workplace will “cooperate fully” with the investigation.
“There is no higher priority for law enforcement than ensuring that victims of sexual assault get the justice they deserve and the care, support, and treatment they need,” he mentioned.
After the 2019 lawsuit, the NYPD appointed a girl, Judith Harrison, to lead the embattled division and shifted to what she referred to as a “victim-centered” method — however she moved to a special place inside two years.
In 2020, the division appointed Michael King, a veteran investigator and forensic nurse, to the put up. King, whose expertise included conducting the very bodily exams and proof assortment very important to fixing sex crimes circumstances, spent half of his first few days on the job going to the hospital to help medical doctors with rape kits.
But King was faraway from the job in February, amid complaints about his management and the division’s continued mishandling of circumstances.
Last October, a girl who recognized herself as Christine instructed a City Council listening to that detectives made elementary errors in investigating her rape.
She mentioned they failed to interview witnesses or acquire safety digicam footage from the bar the place she’d been earlier than the assault.
Instead, she mentioned, they needed to arrange a “traumatizing controlled phone call with the man who raped me,” failed to take a look at for date-rape medication and closed the case twice with out telling her.
story by The Texas Tribune Source link