by Amnesty International

About the author: Amnesty International is a worldwide voluntary movement that works to prevent governmental violations of people’s fundamental human rights.

Amnesty International (AI) has reviewed more than 90 individual cases of alleged ill-treatment and excessive force by New York City police officers, dating from the late 1980s to early 1996. The large majority of the cases involve officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD), although a few cases involve officers from the NYC Transit or Housing Authority Police Departments before their merger with the NYPD in 1995. In most cases civil lawsuits seeking damages for police misconduct were filed against the individual officers concerned, as well as against the Police Department and the City of New York as the authorities responsible for police practices and behaviour. These lawsuits include tort actions brought in...