The Legal Aid Society released an analysis today of data published by the City on civil actions for misconduct brought against the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and against individual officers, reports the New York Post. The report reveals that New Yorkers filed 1,383 lawsuits in 2019 against the NYPD for a range of misconduct including excessive use of force, assault, wrongful arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and other acts. The City also paid out over $68,688,423 dollars to settle those lawsuit, which is an increase of almost $30 million in payouts compared to 2018.

“An epidemic of misconduct within the New York City Police Department continues to cost New York City taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each year. Police Secrecy Law 50a denies us data about how and why that misconduct occurs and what the NYPD is doing – or more to the point, not doing – about it,” said Corey Stoughton, Attorney-in-Charge of the Special Litigation Unit of the Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society.