Resources & Reports

Monitor Reports

The Monitor regularly reports to the court regarding the NYPD’s progress or lack of process in achieving compliance with the court’s orders. In addition to general compliance reports, the Monitor also has issued special reports describing the Monitor Team’s analyses and findings related to particular subjects of interest. You can read the Monitor’s reports below.   

Latest Report

• Monitor’s Sixteenth Report – General Compliance Report (May 6, 2022)

Training

The court required the NYPD to revise its stop and frisk training in order to adhere to constitutional standards and New York State law. Required topics include: when a stop, frisk, or search may be conducted; trespass enforcement and interior patrols; proper documentation of stops; and supervisors’ responsibility for reviewing officers’ stops, frisks, and searches. The Court also required the NYPD to revise its training regarding the illegality of racial profiling. Members of racially defined groups may not be targeted for stops simply because members of that racial group appear more frequently in local crime suspect data. Race may be considered only when the stop is based on a specific and reliable suspect description. Training was required for both officers and supervisors, as well as for recruits in the Police Academy. New training was also required for (1) recruits and for members of the NYPD’s Housing Bureau regarding trespass enforcement and patrols in NYCHA housing developments; (2) plainclothes officers; and (3) Field Training Officers. Refresher training was also required, which the NYPD is currently developing.

Stop & Frisk

Policies

The court required the NYPD to revise a number of its policies and procedures. The written policies and procedures regarding stops, questions, frisks and searches needed to be revised to more clearly state the legal standards required by the constitution and state law. The policies now state what constitutes a stop and when a stop, frisk, or search may be conducted. The new policies prohibiting racial profiling and bias-based policing include a definition of racial profiling and states that race, ethnicity, or national origin may be considered by officers in taking police enforcement action only when it is part of a specific and reliable suspect description. The NYPD has also revised its policies and procedures regarding: (1) the interior patrol of NYCHA properties; (2) the use of body-worn cameras (BWC); (3) a new performance evaluation system for officers and detectives; (4) auditing; and (5) processing and investigating racial profiling complaints.  

• Investigative Encounters, P.G. 212-11 (6/10/21)
• Policy on Interior Patrol of Housing Authority Buildings (PG 212-60 – revised March 16, 2022)
• Use of Body Worn Cameras, (PG 212-123 – revised July 25, 2022)
• Department Policy Prohibiting Racial Profiling and Bias Based Policing, A.G. 304-17 (6/10/21)
• Processing and Investigating Complaints of Profiling and Bias-Based Policing (10/26/20)
• 2020 Audit Plan (6/15/20)
• 2020 Audit Plan Submission Letter (6/15/20)
• Performance Evaluation System – revised October 2017
• NYPD Disciplinary Matrix
• NYPD Discipline Matrix (revised February 15, 2022)

Court Opinions and Orders

On August 12, 2013, the court issued its liability opinion in the Floyd case finding that the NYPD’s policies and practices regarding stops, frisks, and searches were unconstitutional. On the same day, the court issued its remedial order, setting forth the reforms that the NYPD was required to implement. Those documents can be found here. Also included are the settlement agreements and the court’s orders in the Ligon and Davis cases, relating to NYPD patrols in private multifamily buildings and in NYCHA housing developments, respectively. In addition, subsequent orders of the court are included regarding: (1) NYPD’s performance evaluation system for police officers and detectives; (2) NYPD’s Early Intervention Program; and (3) NYPD’s BWC policies and the Monitor’s studies of police practices using BWC videos.      

• (Floyd, Ligon) Remedial Order (8/12/13)
• (Floyd) Liability Opinion (8/12/13)
• Court Order Approving NYPD Alternative Plan and Monitor’s Studies (ECF 817, 2/12/21)
• Order Re Early Intervention System
• (Floyd) Opinion on Monitor’s Recommendation Regarding the NYPD Performance Evaluation System (11/6/17)
• (Ligon) Settlement Order, Stipulation, and Exhibits (7/19/17)
• (Davis) Settlement Order, Stipulation, and Exhibits (4/28/15)
• (Floyd) Order Modifying Remedial Order (7/30/14)

Body-Worn Cameras

The court’s remedial order noted the potential benefits of outfitting NYPD officers with body-worn cameras (BWCs). These potential benefits include creating objective records of stop encounters, encouraging lawful and respectful police-civilian interactions since both parties know exchanges are recorded, alleviating mistrust between the NYPD and the public, and helping NYPD officers who are wrongly accused of misconduct. The court required a one-year pilot study to assess the effects of BWCs. In 2017, the Monitor worked with the NYPD to launch a randomized control trial to evaluate the impact cameras have on the behavior of officers and civilians. Approximately 1,300 police officers working the evening shifts in 20 precincts across the city were outfitted with cameras, and their activities were compared to the activities of officers not wearing cameras in 20 matched precincts over the span of one year. The Monitor’s reports on this study are included below.  

Currently, all police officers, detectives, sergeants, and lieutenants regularly assigned to perform patrol duties throughout New York City are equipped with BWCs. The NYPD BWC program is the largest in the United States with over 24,000 members of the Department equipped with cameras. 

• Use of Body Worn Cameras, (PG 212-123 – revised July 25, 2022)
• Monitor’s 12th Report