A board of the Government of New York City, the CCRB is tasked with investigating, mediating and prosecuting complaints of misconduct on the part of the NYPD.

The CCRB exists today as a fully independent civil department, staffed with 142 civilian investigators and about a dozen miscellaneous employees.

[6] Each complaint the agency receives is assessed by one of the investigative managers on a daily rotating basis and has its merits checked for proper jurisdiction.

and Offensive Language, which is more specific than Discourtesy, and includes slurs based on race, religion, ethnicity, sex, gender, and LGBTQ status.

If the civilian cannot be located after a diligent search and/or did not provide accurate or correct contact information, the case is closed as "Complainant Unavailable".

[citation needed] If the civilian is contacted, a statement is initially taken over the phone by the investigator to further ensure proper jurisdiction and to gain a basic understanding of the broad facts within the complaint.

An officer failing to appear or lying to an investigator is, in itself, a violation that could result in severe discipline up to and including suspension and possibly termination.

[9] Mediation is an option for certain complaints provided the officer does not have an extensive CCRB or NYPD disciplinary history, there was no arrest made and severe force or abuse of authority were not involved.

If an officer is found guilty, the penalty can be a warning and admonishment, loss of vacation days, suspension without pay, dismissal probation, or termination from the NYPD.

The CCRB and its acronym FADO (for the first letter of the allegations it investigates) has permeated all ranks of the NYPD and is part of all officers' training at the Police Academy.

Over the years, NYPD officers have come under public scrutiny with allegations of corruption, brutality, excessive use of force, and poor firearm discipline.

[16] Individual incidents have tended to receive more publicity; a portion of which have been substantiated while others have not (e.g. Lt. Charles Becker, the only NYPD officer sentenced to death by electric chair).

[17][2] In 1965, Mayor John Lindsay appointed former federal judge Lawrence E. Walsh to investigate and consult with the NYPD to make improvements to the department.

[17][2] He recommended that members of the general public, non-police officers, be given substantial authority in any new civilian complaint review board.

Lindsay eventually formed a search committee, headed by former Attorney General Herbert Brownell, to find civilian candidates to serve on the CCRB.

[3] With the aid of the PBA, he collected enough signatures to press a ballot measure to remove civilians from having oversight of police complaints.

possible causes such as low salaries and declining morale, many more off-duty NYPD officers are being arrested and charged in and outside the city for crimes ranging from drunk driving to homicide.

[2] Between 1986 and 1987, the New York City Council enacted a piece of legislation that called for imposing some degree of civilian oversight once again.

[22] The curfew wasn’t welcomed and resulted in public animosity against the police as vocal anger and objects (like glass) were thrown against them.

[17] During September 1992, Mayor David Dinkins supported an independent CCRB; it was met with political and police resistance.

Subpoena power was given because the CCRB didn’t have the authority to obtain filmed footage from local media outlets that recorded evidence to substantiate their cases.

Currently the CCRB is the largest civilian oversight agency in the country, investigating over 10,000 complaints and resulting in the discipline for thousands of police officers over their misconduct.

[17] Even though it has only existed in its current form for a little over a decade, the conception of a board delegated power to investigate complaints about potential police misconduct predates the administration of Robert Wagner, who was responsible for investing the nascent Civilian Complaint Review Board-which was then composed solely of three deputy police commissioners-with new powers in 1955.

However, it remained a province of the NYPD, with all investigations being conducted by police officers, and their findings forwarded to the deputy commissioners for recommendation.

Because the CCRB has no authority over the police they investigate, their recommendation(s) are at best a consideration and can't be used to define the fate of the accused officer.

[30] In the CCRB's Annual Report of 2017, the agency received 4,487 complaints from civilians in allegations of Force, Abuse of Authority, Discourtesy, or Offensive Language by members of the NYPD (a 5% increase since 2016).

About 58% were allegations of abuse of authority (e.g. unlawful searches of premises, refusals to provide a name or shield number, and threats to arrest a civilian).