Human rights commission faced disagreements, growing pains, collaboration while overseeing police misconduct claims, officials say

Two years after the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission began monitoring the police department’s Internal Affairs investigations, the agency reviewed more than 500 police misconduct complaints against officers and disagreed with the outcome in 14 cases.

Along the way, HRC members say the agency has developed a collaborative relationship with the Suffolk County Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau, but there have been disagreements and growing pains.

Internal Affairs officers, for example, have failed to upload evidence in complaint cases quickly to an information-sharing portal used by HRC investigators and commissioners. The HRC also objects to allowing officers who are the subjects of complaints to use "42s," officers’ statements detailing their side of a complaint case. Those officers, HRC officials said, should be interviewed in person. 

And they say commission members still don't know how many officers have been disciplined in the last two years or the type of punishment the department is meting out in cases where the Suffolk Internal Affairs Bureau finds instances of misconduct.

The commission members said the HRC has been working toward finding a working relationship with the Internal Affairs Bureau while vowing to continue to press the police for information crucial in bringing transparency to an often-secretive process. County officials say the department is trying to work with the commission and find fixes where problems occur.

"The ideal model would have investigative authority and subpoena power," said Carolyn G. Peabody, the chairwoman of the HRC’s Administration of Justice subcommittee, the panel that provides civilian oversight of the Internal Affairs process. "We are currently dependent on the rigor of their investigations and the evidence they share. Within the current political context, the best we can do is monitor from the outside. We are working to make it work."

'Flying a plane while building it'

Members acknowledged building the first civilian review of the Internal Affairs Bureau in Suffolk County was like "flying the plane while building it," as HRC officials said in a July 2024 report.

"There was nothing," Peabody said, "There was no structure at all, no process, no policies, no procedures."

Some community advocates remain unconvinced about the value of the HRC’s oversight role.

"The process and utilization of the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission with regard to civilian complaints is a farce," said Hempstead civil rights attorney Frederick K. Brewington. "It has no authority to conduct investigations, no authority to make decisions and no authority to interview witnesses. It is only a portal for receiving complaints. It is business as usual with the Suffolk County Bureau of Internal Affairs."

In the last two years, HRC commissioners and investigators have monitored complaints, evidence and outcomes of 560 police misconduct cases, officials said. Under its expanded responsibilities, if the agency determines that an investigation was insufficient — an important witness, for example, was not interviewed — it can request additional steps be taken, officials said.

It is not clear how many officers have been disciplined during the past two years. Suffolk police had provided the HRC with quarterly reports that included outcomes and disciplinary actions before the commission began its oversight role in 2023, Peabody said. But the information provided by the department since then has not provided clarity to that question.

'We are currently in the process of advocating for the department to release that information to us again and more clearly," Peabody wrote in an email.

HRC's expanded role

The HRC, created in 1963 to investigate complaints of bias and enforce antidiscrimination laws, had collected misconduct complaints and passed them along to the Internal Affairs Bureau before then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ordered New York communities to draft reform plans in the aftermath of George Floyd’s 2020 murder while in the custody of Minneapolis police.

A 37-member panel appointed by former Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone greatly expanded the commission’s role when it drafted the reform plan, which also included equipping officers with body cameras, and a requirement to share public traffic stop data with the public.

The next step was "to provide oversight," said HRC chairwoman Lynda Perdomo-Ayala, who also served on the reform task force.

The civilian oversight included in the reform plan was a compromise between law-enforcement officials who resisted monitoring and community groups that supported what they called The People’s Plan, a proposal that included calls for a civilian body with strong investigative authority, subpoena power and the ability to direct the police commissioner to impose discipline.

If HRC commissioners and investigators disagree on the disposition of a case, they can bring their concerns to Suffolk police commanders. HRC officials have concurred with the vast majority of IAB conclusions, but it has disagreed with decisions in 14 cases to date.

"While not always completely satisfied, AOJ [Administration of Justice subcommittee] has found the leadership of IAB to be accessible, cooperative, responsive and expressive in their support of our shared goals," the HRC said in the report.

Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine said in a statement that the HRC "plays a critical role in Suffolk County," adding the county has added new members so the commission can continue to focus on its mission. "We appreciate their hard work and look forward to working with them moving forward," Romaine said.

Most of the nation’s civilian oversight boards are operate on a similar model as Suffolk, according to Cameron McEllhiney, executive director of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, which has provided training and assistance to the HRC. She said the panels evolve over time, taking on strong investigative powers and bigger roles in setting policies.

"It is great to see they are continuing to try to create something that can be sustainable," she said. "Over time, you learn things."

One example of how that is playing out in Suffolk involves the use of body cameras in precinct houses. HRC officials complained last year that desk officers were not wearing the body cameras in precinct houses, depriving the Internal Affairs Bureau and HRC investigators of crucial evidence.

Police said the policy was based on privacy concerns, but relented to the rule after the commission highlighted complaints about desk officers.

"If we look, and say, ‘Hey, the Human Rights Commission says this, this and this should have been done,’ maybe we say, ‘Hey, you know, they are right,’ ” newly appointed Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina told Newsday.

2024 report details obstacles

There have been other snags, according to the July 2024 report.

Internal Affairs officers have dragged their feet in sharing evidence with HRC investigators. Suffolk police leaders said they have reminded captains the evidence has to be properly uploaded to an evidence-sharing portal. "Since that time, it has gotten better," Peabody said, "but … at times we have to wait until the end of the investigation for the evidence."

HRC officials also have concerns about "42s," the internal correspondence officers use when they are subjects of a complaint, or are witnesses.

"The critical issue is that this serves in place of an actual interview," the HRC report said. "Given the importance of having an interactive opportunity to ask follow-up questions when an officer provides a statement about what they have observed or participated in, we expressed strong misgivings about the choice of 42s, particularly for the subject officer of the investigation."

Internal Affairs officials agreed that subjects of complaint should be interviewed in person, but they would continue to use 42s when interviews are not feasible. "The AOJ is going to remain vigilant about this issue," Peabody said.

Another concern is the large number of cases categorized as "notifications," which means IA officials deemed it outside the department's jurisdiction. Peabody said the agency will continue to press IA commanders on how they determine a case is a notification.

The HRC’s new role added to the workload of Perdomo-Ayala, Peabody (a clinical professor at Stony Brook University's School of Social Welfare) and the four other Administration of Justice subcommittee members, all of whom are unpaid.

Diverging opinions

Former Suffolk Police Benevolent Association president Noel DiGerolamo was a member of the task force that created the reform plan and expanded the HRC’s role, and current PBA president Lou Civello said the union played a role in expanding the HRC’s duties. Civello said the system is working.

Brewington represented the estate of Kenny Lazo, who died after he was beaten by Suffolk police following a 2008 traffic stop. The lawsuit argued that the IAB investigation into Lazo’s death was superficial, designed to avoid accountability, and that the department’s disciplinary process was a sham. A federal jury in Central Islip agreed, awarding the estate $35 million. Lazo’s estate and the county later settled the suit for $20 million.

"Any claim that the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission has made the complaint process more accountable is false," Brewington said.

LatinoJustice, which accused police officers of widespread discrimination against Latinos in a 2015 lawsuit, wanted civilian oversight with subpoena powers and a role in discipline similar to the Civilian Complaint Review Board that monitors NYPD discipline, according to Andrew Case, a supervising attorney with the Manhattan civil rights organization. Two years later, he believes HRC’s oversight is "a good model."

LatinoJustice’s 2023 settlement of the lawsuit called for the HRC role in monitoring complaint investigations and other parts of the reform plan to be codified for at least three years.

"We are glad to see the settlement is resulting in what appears to be a more transparent process with the IAB," Case said.