Nineteen NYPD officers face departmental charges after city investigators uncovered dozens of instances where crimes were misreported at a Bronx precinct, authorities say.
The Nineteen New York Police Department employees - one lieutenant, eight sergeants, nine officers and one detective - worked at the 40th Precinct in the Bronx and face administrative charges of misreporting during a four-month period in 2014, according to Fox News.
An audit of 2014 crime complaints in the Bronx precinct, including radio call response activity, found 55 instances in which crime complaints allegedly weren't processed. The majority of these reports were in the five general offense categories of low-level crimes, including petit larceny, lost property, misdemeanor assault, criminal mischief and criminal trespass.
The crime statistics at the 40th Precinct have been recalculated in light of the findings, from 14 percent down to 11.4 percent.
The commanding officer of the 40th Precinct has been "administratively transferred." Furthermore, if found guilty, the officers involved face a loss of vacation days or possible dismissal from the department, NBC News reported.
Commissioner William Bratton, who made it a priority to ensure crime complaints are accurately reported since he took charge of the NYPD last year, called the disciplinary charges "strict but fair."
"The purposeful misrepresentation of crime data is rare but nevertheless unacceptable, and it will be dealt with accordingly," he said, according to PIX 11. "I will not tolerate any misconduct that might undermine public confidence in the hard work of the thousands of officers who have made this the safest large city in America."
Mayor de Blasio's administration commended the NYPD's "swift action" in disciplining the officers.
"The only way to keep our city safe is to ensure police officers are accurately reporting criminal incidents," a spokeswoman said, adding that de Blasio had "full confidence" in the reporting and auditing structures currently in place within the department, according to NBC News.
Allegations of downgrading crime plagued the previous administration with reports stating that crime rates were low because officers were claiming higher-level crimes like rape were being labeled as assaults to make precincts seem safer.
