Kudos to new Police Commissioner Jessie Tisch for continuing her thorough scrubbing of the NYPD with two automobile-related reforms. The damp crevices of huge bureaucracy are where the black mold of corruption and other bad public policy often grow and Tisch is cleaning it out.
First, Tisch is ordering a long-overdue review of a department auto leasing program. The Confidential Rental and Leasing Office, created under former Commissioner Ray Kelly, has an important core purpose: to give investigators, including undercovers, a way to procure and use a range of vehicles that don’t automatically give them away, which standard unmarked cop cars tend to do. Most of the cars are leased with federal funding; the expenditures add up to around $1.2 million a month.
Trouble is, a growing number of these cars appear to be in use for purposes other than intended. There’s concern in particular that police brass might be using them for their home-to-work commutes.
In comes Tisch and her fresh eyes, with an internal memo mandating that the department get a full inventory of all the vehicles in the program along with the justification for each one. “No executive may be assigned a CRALO vehicle for use in performing their duties,” wrote the commish. “No staff who support an executive may have a CRALO vehicle assigned for the sole or secondary purpose of driving an executive.”
It should’ve gone without saying, but it had to be said.
While Tisch is at it, she should crack down on a far more common form of vehicle-related entitlement — the lack of enforcement on the misuse of parking placards. According to a Department of Investigation report last year, nearly 40,000 permits are officially in circulation.
Tisch needs to get a handle on parking abuse, as DOI found last year, the NYPD has “no written policies or procedures” regarding areas around police facilities designed by the department as parking for employees. Precinct brass need to figure out legit parking that meets the needs of officers without infringing on the community. Please don’t block bike lanes or sidewalks with private cars.
Speaking of which, on Wednesday Tisch put in place new rules for high-speed pursuits, which have been happening with stunningly greater frequency in the last couple of years, resulting in rising numbers of injuries and even fatalities.
Where once NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell defended the chases, Chell, now promoted to chief of department, says: “Our overarching objective—every minute of every day—is to keep the people of this great city safe.” He added, “we need to pursue criminals when appropriate and stay our hand when the risks to the public and to our cops outweigh the benefits. Our revised policy strikes that critical balance.”
Under the new policy, chases will be allowed only for the most serious crimes — felonies and violent misdemeanors — and will be explicitly discouraged if they’re in residential areas or near places where kids play. And now, it’ll be written into police policy that officers won’t be punished if they terminate a pursuit out of a concern for the safety of residents or their fellow officers.
The NYPD is full of dedicated officers doing their darndest to protect the city. They deserve leadership that honors that hard work, and now they’re getting it.