The district attorneys of different boroughs of New York City — the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens — have now released the names of police officers that they consider problematic to call on in court. All of the officers on the so-called “no-call” lists are deemed to have “credibility problems” that make their testimony about arrests and evidence questionable.
What are those credibility problems? Some of them have been exposed for lying about an incident or have been subjected to civil lawsuits over their tactics. Others have been accused of crimes themselves or have committed acts of misconduct that aren’t very defensible in court. The latest list, which was released due to a request by multiple news agencies under the Freedom of Information Law, came from Queens and included 65 names.
Among those on the list are 14 officers who are believed to have lied in federal trials about their probable cause for searching people on the street for illegal firearms. One was an officer who was caught after he showed the victim of a rape a photograph of the chief suspect before she viewed a lineup. Another abused a 14-year-old by taking justice into his own hands after the boy was caught throwing eggs on Halloween.
Many of the names that are on the list are already familiar to watchdogs focused on police misconduct and abuse of authority. While important to the work of defense attorneys, the list also sheds some light on cases where a victim claims to have been profiled, wrongly accused or otherwise injured by the police.
If you’ve been victimized by police misconduct, there is help available. Find out more about how you can pursue a civil claim against those who harmed you.