More Crooked Cops in New York City Make the Naughty List
by Douglas Ankney
In October of 2019, the Bronx District Attorney released a heavily redacted list of 75 cops whose testimony the District Attorney’s office feared would undermine cases. Because many of those cops were proven to be liars, the prosecutors won’t call them as witnesses.
Prior to the release of the Bronx list, the New York Post had obtained internal records from the Manhattan District Attorney that showed prosecutors had red-flagged 31 New York Police Department officers not to be called as witnesses.
And in November 2019, the Brooklyn District Attorney released a list of 54 cops too dishonest or crooked to be called to testify in court.
Ironically, after the Bronx list was released, the Sergeants Benevolent Association (“SBA”) claimed the release of the “naughty list” was an attempt to “smear honest, hardworking cops.” Really? Cops whom prosecutors consider too corrupt to appear in court are honest and hardworking? Small wonder, then, that cops who shoot and kill unarmed citizens are referred to as “those brave men and women in blue.”
In an effort to appease the police unions, the Brooklyn District Attorney released a statement saying this recent list wasn’t an “indictment” of the “thousands of dedicated officers.” But Ed Mullins, president of the SBA, still whined, saying the DA’s priorities are misplaced and that “[t]he Brooklyn DA has a long history of bad prosecutions. What are they going to do about that? It’s hypocritical.” But isn’t making a list of corrupt cops and refusing to allow those cops to testify actually a step in addressing bad prosecutions?
The Brooklyn DA has numerous other documents that detail further misconduct by additional officers the DA won’t allow anywhere near a courtroom. But because those documents contain “attorney notes,” the DA won’t release them because the notes are protected attorney work product.
But since cops are the ones who arrest us, book us, and write the official narrative of all pertinent circumstances, shouldn’t we be allowed to know if those cops have been previously red-flagged for credibility issues? Don’t we have a right to use this as impeachment evidence when those cops testi-lie against us in court?
Yet, in an era where the majority of prosecutors refuse to release these “Brady lists” of bad cops (or even compile a list), these New York district attorneys demonstrated they are sincere in seeking that justice be done instead of seeking cases be won.
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Sources: techdirt.com, nypost.com
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