The Legal Aid Society released an analysis of data that reveals from January 1, 2024, to July 30, 2024, the City has already paid out a whopping $82,168,417 in settlements on lawsuits alleging police misconduct.

Payouts for the first seven months of 2024 already surpass the total payouts for calendar years 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Total payouts for police misconduct are likely to be substantially higher because these data do not account for matters that were settled with the New York City Comptroller’s office prior to formal litigation.

“The NYPD has already cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars this year to foot the costs of alleged misconduct, and at this rate, total payouts for 2024 could balloon to over $140 million, the highest in years,” said Jennvine Wong, Supervising Attorney with Legal Aid’s Cop Accountability Project.

“The ‘no rules, no consequence’ culture that thrives within the NYPD not only undermines public safety, but diverts precious taxpayer dollars away from critical services that New Yorkers depend upon,” she continued. “Most glaring, we can surmise that based on the NYPD’s refusal to discipline their own, many of the members of service named in these lawsuits are still on the job, earning their full salary, carrying a gun, wearing a badge, and policing our neighborhoods.”

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