A group of New York lawmakers joined The Legal Aid Society to call on the NYPD to dissolve the Department’s Vice Squad following a ProPublica investigation that revealed numerous allegations of false arrests and sexual misconduct, as well as stark racial disparities – almost everyone arrested was from communities of color.

The Department of Investigation, which oversees the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD, has received at least two other requests to investigate the vice unit in recent years. In early 2018, Legal Aid asked the inspector general to investigate allegations of false arrest by an active officer and vice veteran known only as Undercover 157, and his since issued calls for reform following the ProPublica story.

“It is time for the NYPD to acknowledge that Vice officers engage in unethical and, sometimes, illegal behavior and to ensure that those officers are held accountable for the harm they cause,” said Leigh Latimer, Supervising Attorney of The Legal Aid Society’s Exploitation Intervention Project.