NYPD Disputes Claims By Officers That The Department Encourages Minority Arrest Quotas
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Newly released sworn statements by several NYPD officers aim to back a lawsuit filed years ago that claims minorities were targeted in order to meet arrest quotas.
As CBS2's Alice Gainer reported Monday, the NYPD calls the claims false.
"Immediately, one of the things that I learned was there's a unlawful quotas for arrests," said Lt. Edwin Raymond, who is currently on leave from the NYPD.
Raymond joined the force nearly 13 years ago.
"It's a lot of coded language. You have to stop the right people," Raymond said.
The right people, he alleges, were members of the Black and Hispanic communities, and if you didn't play the numbers game, he claims, "You get your overtime taken. You get your shift changed. They start to retaliate."
In 2015, Raymond and other officers filed a lawsuit. A documentary was even made about it.
Since then, numerous current and retired officers have made sworn statements backing the claims. Four new affidavits have been released ahead of their filing next month.
Retired officer Charles Spruill, who is African-American, says in his statement the code internally for making numbers was "activity," and alleges he was told in reference to minority civilians, "I needed to beat the animals and make them cooperate."
He adds, "I have personally witnessed officers writing fraudulent summonses and making false arrests as a result of the quota."
Transit Officer Dan Quinones, who is Hispanic, says his commanding officer, "would paint minority police officers who did not meet his definition of the arrest quota as lazy."
The NYPD said, "The allegations of race-based quotas, or a policy of numerical quotas are false and we are confident the evidence will show that. Beyond that, we will make our statements in court."
A law department spokesman for the city told CBS2, "Individuals who are not part of this case have made some baseless accusations in new affidavits in an attempt to support plaintiffs' meritless case. Our motion for summary judgment tells you all you need to know why Mr. Raymond's claims have no legal merit."
John Scola, the lawyer for the four plaintiffs, pointed out the claims come from Transit and another precinct.
"There's no correlation between the affidavits from Brooklyn and the affidavits from the Bronx, except for commanding officers that go to CompStat meetings," Scola said.
Raymond took his leave from the NYPD to run for City Council.
When asked whether he'd return to the NYPD, he said, "That's something I have to give thought to, because I want to be reflective in bringing the reform that we need."
The four new affidavits will be filed next month in their response to the city's filing of a motion for summary judgment.
