Bellone: Suffolk Human Rights Commission will start taking police misconduct complaints Monday

The Suffolk County Human Rights Commission is taking on a new oversight role of the police department’s internal affairs investigations — a move some activists applauded but said is not strong enough — as part of a police reform effort spurred by the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, officials said Wednesday.

The Human Rights Commission, which is a county-funded body that investigates housing and employment discrimination, will begin taking complaints of alleged police misconduct from the public on Monday, said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. The commission will forward all complaints to the Suffolk County Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau, which investigates allegations of police misconduct, Bellone said. The IAB will continue to work independently, but the commission will review IAB’s work and has hired four investigators, for a total of seven commission investigators.

“There is nothing more important than ensuring public safety in our communities, and to make sure that is being done in a just and fair and equitable way that builds trust in a community,” said Bellone, speaking at a news conference Wednesday at Suffolk government headquarters in Hauppauge to highlight the new process.

The Human Rights Commission’s involvement in investigations conducted by the Suffolk County Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau, which is staffed by police detectives whose work is shielded from public review, marks a detour from the extremely secretive nature of internal affairs investigations. But activists for police reform have lamented the system lacks the teeth of a Civilian Complaint Review Board because the commission doesn’t have subpoena power.

“While this represents progress, we need to ensure that the Human Rights Commission is independent,” said Tracey Edwards, the Long Island regional director of the NAACP and a member of Suffolk’s police reform task force. “They need subpoena power, support, and it’s important that the investigators within the police department are free and able to take direction from the Human Rights Commission. That independence maintains the integrity of the process for the benefit of the community and the police that are protecting and serving.”

The Suffolk County Legislature in 2021 passed the Suffolk County Police Reform and Reinvention Task Force Report, which included the expansion of police body cameras, the deployment of mental health experts to respond to some 911 calls and the commission’s review of police misconduct complaints.

Then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had mandated that law enforcement agencies statewide submit police reform plans for passage by local legislatures or risk losing state funding weeks after Floyd's murder by a Minneapolis police officer while in custody, which sparked months of nationwide protests over police killings. Cuomo, with the backing of the State Legislature, also repealed the controversial state Civil Rights Law 50-a, which kept confidential the disciplinary records of police officers.

But even with the repeal of 50-a, both the Suffolk and Nassau police departments have resisted compliance, instead responding to Newsday’s records requests with largely redacted files. Newsday has sued both police departments.

In response to a request for comment from Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison on the new internal affairs oversight, the department’s public information office emailed a statement: “Public trust and public safety are at the forefront of our mission in being a successful law enforcement agency. We welcome the addition of the Suffolk Human Rights Commission (HRC) to enhance civilian oversight of the Internal Affairs Bureau.”   

Vanessa Baird-Streeter, a deputy county executive who was a co-chair of the police reform task force, said many residents told the task force they felt uncomfortable going into a police precinct to file a complaint. The new system will allow residents to file a complaint 24 hours a day through an online platform called Oversight by SIVIL.

“That is transparency; that is accountability,” said Baird-Streeter. 

Baird-Streeter said once a complaint is filed to the commission, it will be forwarded to internal affairs.

“The Internal Affairs Bureau will engage in their investigatory process, so if they are engaging in interviews, conversations with a complainant, they will do that,” said Baird-Streeter. “It is not done jointly but human rights investigators will be able to review that information.” 

The commission will have full access to all evidence presented to IAB, she said, and will be able to make recommendations. The commission will review every complaint, regardless of how it is filed. 

If HRC has concerns about an internal affairs investigation, Baird-Streeter said, it can raise those concerns with the police commissioner.

Noel DiGerolamo, president of the Suffolk Police Benevolent Association and a member of the task force, said he was unavailable to comment Wednesday. The union’s second vice president, Lou Civello, did not respond a message seeking comment.

Legis. Steven Flotteron (R-Bay Shore), chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said he was interested to see how the new process would work.

“I think it’s important to have outside eyes as part of police reform,” said Flotteron. “If this is the right organization, time will tell.”