44th Precinct near top in CCRB complaints

The 44th Precinct --which includes Highbridge --generated the third-highest number of complaints against the NYPD in 2007 among the city's 123 total precincts.

The 44 was the source of 244 complaints filed last year with the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB)-- the city agency that reviews civilian allegations of police misconduct--according to the agency's most recent status report. This figure ranks the "44" behind only the 75th Precinct, covering East New York, Brooklyn (349 complaints), and the 73rd Precinct, covering Ocean Hill/Brownsville, Brooklyn (280 complaints), according to recently-departed CCRB spokesman Andrew Case.

Data provided by Case also shows that 2007 marked the fifth consecutive year in which the 44 had the highest number of CCRB complaints among Bronx precincts. While the 44 saw a slight decrease in complaints from 2006, when it generated 255 complaints, the 2007 total still represents a considerable increase from 2003, when 160 CCRB complaints originated in the precinct.

This pattern, in fact, reflects a citywide trend : According to the status report, 7,759 civilian complaints were filed with the board in 2007, a figure that, while slightly lower than the total for 2006 (7,662) still constitutes a 36 percent increase over the 2003 total and an 84 percent jump from 2000.

In its report, the CCRB asserts that one major factor in the significant rise in complaints over the past several years is the city's 311 system, which was launched in March 2003. The board bases this summation on the fact that "complaints filed by telephone [as opposed to forwarded from the NYPD] make up an ever-increasing portion of the complaints filed directly with the CCRB- over 87 percent in 2007."

The board does not publish a direct number, so 311 is likely the only way to contact the CCRB that most civilians are aware of.