New York, NY - Complaints Against The NYPD Soared More Than 34 Percent

New York, NY - Police-brutality claims are up 34.3 percent for the first three months of this year compared with the same period a year ago, according to the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board.

From January through March of this year, the CCRB tallied 1,622 allegations of excessive force against New York's Finest, compared with 1,208 during the same period last year.
The 414 more allegations range from possible instances of needlessly pointing a gun at someone to putting on handcuffs too tightly to roughing up a suspect with a police radio or flashlight.
The sharp rise in force allegations in the first quarter of this year is part of a trend - in 2005, force claims rose 17.2 percent over annual totals for 2004.
Meanwhile, for the first three months of this year, total complaints to the CCRB alleging a variety of wrongdoing jumped 18.2 percent from a year ago - from 1,557 to 1,864 - with the more serious brutality charges rising fastest of all, the data suggests.
In fact, through March 31, more than half the 1,864 allegations detailed by civilians - 51.4 percent - involve a claim of improper force. "What we've been seeing over the past four years is an increase in abuse of authority complaints, so the more rapid increase in force complaints is something new," said CCRB spokesman Andrew Case.

Excessive-force claims are difficult to prove and the overwhelming majority are dismissed by the CCRB.