NYPD “Performance Monitoring Program”

[nevetsd82]

Check this out
From the PBA Magazine

The NYPD has a sinister and dishonest shadow system of discipline that can cost a police officer career advances and desirable duty assignments and put a career on hold for seven years, an entire third of an officer’s career. It’s a system that unfairly brands an officer as a malcontent or problem and gives bosses absolute control over police officers while taking all due process away from us. It is called the “Performance Monitoring Program” (PMP) and the PBA has painted a large bulls-eye on it because we believe it’s illegal, unfair and downright un-American.

In July, our legal team filed an improper practice complaint with the city Office of Collective Bargaining to compel the city and the NYPD to rescind the program and reverse the adverse impact on unfairly affected officers. Our lawyers argued that the PMP should be eliminated because it violates the New York City Administrative Code and was unilaterally created as entirely new terms and conditions of employment. Furthermore, it imposes new disciplinary penalties on cases that have already been adjudicated and for which penalties have already been imposed. In a phrase, it’s double jeopardy for police officers.

The PMP is wrong on so many levels it’s difficult to know where to begin. First, the criteria for being placed into the program are far too broad and entirely too vague. There have been instances where a police officer has been placed in the program for legitimately asserting his or her rights, and that is very wrong. In other cases, police officers have been condemned to this program based upon unsubstantiated CCRB complaints, which makes the program, unwittingly, a weapon of revenge for drug dealers and career criminals. It has also been used to punish union delegates who were too effective in representing their members.
Under PMP all you have to do to be placed in the program is to be disliked by a boss, speak out against the system, fight for your rights or do a difficult job well. That’s all it takes for the system to work against you. You can be put into an exile for years, which will cost you opportunities to advance yourself and better your family’s life. All this can occur without you having the opportunity to defend yourself or question your accuser. It’s a program that runs against every fair-play lesson we’ve learned as Americans.

This horrible little crime being perpetrated on our members came to light when one of our delegates was too vocal in defending a fellow officer who was being unfairly transferred. The delegate was told that he was being placed into the PMP so he brought the issue to PBA’s General Counsel’s office. Our lawyers immediately began to research the program and found practically nothing indicating its existence. Under questioning by the PBA’s lawyers, the department was extremely reluctant to produce any documentation about the program. It actually took a lawsuit for discovery to force the department to produce information about the program. That’s when it became clear just how unfair and arbitrary this program is.

The PBA will fight with every weapon we have against this unfair and un-American program. We’ll keep you informed of our progress.

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November 12, 2004

Police Union Sues Kelly on Discipline
By Reuven Blau

The union representing Police Officers has filed a class-action lawsuit against Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, charging that he is violating city regulations by punishing officers and supervisors via a “phantom” disciplinary process.

The suit alleges that the Police Commissioner has exceeded his powers outlined in the City Charter by improperly placing officers in a new probationary system called the Performance Monitoring Program (PMP) without due process.

Hurt Careers

Officers in the program are denied choice overtime assignments, promotions, and permission for off-duty job opportunities, the complaint alleges. The 14 officers named as plaintiffs in the suit are seeking a total of $125,000 in restitution for lost wages and attorney fees.

“Your career is dead while you’re in this program,” said Michael T. Murray, the lawyer handling the case for the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. “It severely impacts your life and your livelihood.”

The Law Department and the NYPD declined to comment on the pending litigation. A preliminary court conference has been scheduled for later this month, Mr. Murray said.

The city’s Office of Labor Relations has maintained that the program is not a subject of collective bargaining because it involves discipline matters which are exclusively the right of the Police Commissioner.

Not Part of Regs

The suite charged that the department arbitrarily places officers in the three-level probationary system. Officers who have civilian complaints filed against them are automatically placed in the system for up to two years. That occurs, the suit contended, even if the complaints are not substantiated by the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

Such a setup is particularly upsetting, the PBA contends, because historically most CCRB complaints are not ultimately validated. In the first half of 2003, there were 3,966 allegations against officers, of which only 3.68 percent were substantiated.

The police unions have long argued that criminals who are familiar with the complaint process have manipulated the system by getting their friends to file a multitude of false complaints against a particularly effective officer. They claim the NYPD is responding by transferring and demoting some of the best and most active officers away from troubled neighborhoods where they are most needed. The ease with which complaints can be lodged has also made officers wary of doing their jobs properly, the unions contend.

Officers who have accepted a disciplinary punishment such as a loss of a vacation day or a suspension are automatically placed into the PMP without their knowledge, according to the lawsuit. That arrangement, the PBA argued, results in officers being punished twice for the same infraction.

The department can also put officers in the PMP for “negative behavior” or because they were administratively transferred, the complaint alleges. The PBA adds that there are no objective standards for why or when an officer is removed from the monitoring program. Probationary periods for evaluation purposes cannot exceed one year, according to the city’s Administrative Code.

[nevetsd82]

I almost can't believe this. Only in New York I guess. What are the opinions of you verified officers?