{"id":205084,"date":"2026-04-21T19:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/205084\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:39:17","slug":"pba-sues-city-police-watchdog-over-release-of-damning-unsubstantiated-allegations-against-nypd-cops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/205084\/","title":{"rendered":"PBA sues city police watchdog over release of damning, unsubstantiated allegations against NYPD cops"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city agency that investigates police misconduct is publicly releasing \u201cstigmatizing\u201d unsubstantiated claims of sexual misconduct, racial profiling and perjury made against NYPD cops \u2014 unfounded allegations that can wreck an officer\u2019s career and reputation even after proven false, a bombshell lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal court<\/a> Tuesday claims.<\/p>\n

The Police Benevolent Association<\/a> lawsuit alleges that the Civilian Complaint Review Board admits that, until they are substantiated, these claims \u201cdo extreme prejudice to the reputations of police officers\u201d and warrant confidential treatment until the claims are confirmed.<\/p>\n

Yet the union says that, according to a blanket policy put in place last October, the CCRB is \u201cknowingly disseminating those life-altering smears in response to Freedom of Information Law requests,\u201d the lawsuit claims.<\/p>\n

Many of these FOIL requests come from the website 50-a.org<\/a>, a searchable online database of NYPD officers that includes lists of substantiated allegations, discipline cases, and lawsuit settlements. The information is disseminated even if the allegations were proven false, which violates the officers\u2019 constitutional rights, the lawsuit claims.<\/p>\n

While the CCRB identifies a sexual misconduct complaint as \u201cabuse of authority: other\u201d on its own website, third-party websites like 50-a.org, who get the same information from FOIL requests, put \u201cabuse of authority: sexual misconduct\u201d or \u201cabuse of authority: sexual misconduct (sexually motivated search),\u201d the lawsuit claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cCCRB\u2019s publication regime for stigmatizing unsubstantiated complaints inflicts severe reputational harm on police officers, jeopardizes their safety, and risks crippling their employment prospects. Meanwhile, CCRB does not provide officers with notice or an opportunity to be heard prior to the disclosure,\u201d the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit notes that the CCRB, by releasing these unsubstantiated details through FOIL is ignoring recommendations from the Committee on Open Government, the state agency responsible for overseeing and providing advisory opinions on FOIL, which has \u201crecognized the continued applicability of privacy and safety rights\u201d when it comes to police officer records.<\/p>\n

FOIL also \u201crequires an agency to evaluate each record individually\u201d and \u201cwhere redactions would prevent such an invasion (of privacy) and can be made without unreasonable difficulty, the agency must disclose the record with those necessary redactions,\u201d the lawsuit noted.<\/p>\n

The CCRB said in response to the suit that its \u201cinvestigations are complete, thorough and impartial.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agency continually reviews all applicable laws and regulations regarding the public release of its records, including disciplinary histories of members of service, to ensure it is fully compliant,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cAs this is now the subject of litigation, we cannot comment further at this time.<\/p>\n

PBA President Patrick Hendry believes the CCRB is colluding with 50-a.org and other anti-police activists to \u201csmear cops with false complaints.\u201d The union has frequently criticized the CCRB as being hostile to police officers.<\/p>\n

The releasing of these unsubstantiated claims is \u201ca calculated effort to end proactive enforcement and drive cops away from the job,\u201d Hendry said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cCCRB has admitted that these baseless allegations will destroy a cop\u2019s career and life outside of work, yet the agency still made the deliberate choice to dump them into public view,\u201d Hendry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough this federal lawsuit, we intend to put a stop to this destructive practice and expose CCRB\u2019s radical agenda to \u2018Abolish the Police\u2019 by trampling cops\u2019 rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident of the Police Benevolent Association Patrick Henry, center, speaks during a press conference outside Queens Criminal Court in Queens, New York on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

While these claims are redacted on the CCRB\u2019s website, they\u2019re given over to anyone who files a FOIL request.\u00a0 Cops have no control over false complaints being filed against him, the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

Once this information is shared online \u201cthey are published for the lifetimes of the officers and beyond and are available to employers, landlords, educational institutions, banks, and the public at large, despite affording officers no process to challenge such disclosures or remove the defamatory content from the database.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit is not demanding the CCRB stop giving out information about police misconduct, but to tighten up their disclosure policy when it comes to what the union calls \u201cstigmatizing unsubstantiated complaints,\u201d particularly when it comes to claims of sexual misconduct, racial profiling and perjury.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch stigmatizing unsubstantiated complaints are particularly inflammatory, stigmatizing, and damaging to the reputations, safety, and employment prospects of police officers, including unsubstantiated accusations of serious criminal conduct such as rape, sexual assault, and perjury,\u201d the lawsuit notes.<\/p>\n

An email to both the CCRB and the city\u2019s Law Department, and 50-a.org for comment on the lawsuit was not immediately returned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city agency that investigates police misconduct is publicly releasing \u201cstigmatizing\u201d unsubstantiated claims of sexual misconduct, racial profiling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,11,10,12,261,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-205084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-city","9":"tag-county","10":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-new-york-county","16":"tag-new-york-headlines","17":"tag-new-york-news","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-nyc-crime","20":"tag-sub-county-region"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}