po ‘York Brook um they vant University 2900 Bedford Ave» Brooklyn, NY 1210 TaL7iB95153t4 + FX 78-95-4699 viwaibesociology.org Philip Eure Office of the Inspector General for the New York City Police Department New York City Department of Investigation 80 Maiden Lane New York, NY 10038 April 21, 2017 Dear Mr. Eure, We, the undersigned group of law professors, community activists, civil rights attorneys, and academics, write to highlight policing practices that we believe require your attention, We are very concerned about the NYPD’s reliance on large-scale military-style gang raids to attempt to control violent crime. Over the last several years, hundreds of people have been arrested and charged with state conspiracy or federal RICO violations as a result of NYPD investigations, In many cases, individuals are charged with conspiracy to commit murder ot other violent crimes absent allegations or direct involvement, raising substantial concerns about arrest and prosecutions based on guilt by association rather than actual involvement in violent crimes. Media reports indicate that many of these cases are built at least in part on police monitoring of social media accounts and the creation of fake social media accounts to lure others to “befriend” them, giving police access to otherwise private information. Many of those targeted by these practices are juveniles and almost all of them are non-white. We have also become aware through press reports and Freedom of Information requests that the NYPD is using one or more databases to classify and track people as gang members, In addition, the defense bar reports that the NYPD is utilizing large data mining software such as Palantir and sharing that information with federal law enforcement agencies. We also understand that these investigations involve substantial electronic surveillanceof people including access to CCTV data in public housing complexes, wiretaps, and possibly the use of Stingray technology. The individuals being prosecuted pursuant to these raids are facing lengthy prison sentences. We are also concemed about the way these raids are taking place. The NYPD, sometimes in partnership with Federal law enforcement agencies, often stage militarized raids with SWAT teams and helicopters. These methods seem unnecessarily risky for police, the accused, their families, and communities given that the police have been engaged in long term surveillance of those arrested. We do not believe there has been adequate or informed public discussion of the methods being used to identify, arrest, and prosecute alleged gang members, especially in large state and federal conspiracy cases. This discussion has been hampered in part by a lack of information about these practices. In an effort to have a more fully informed public discussion of these issues we ask you to investigate and report on the following aspects of NYPD gang enforcement. Attached are several articles that outline a variety of NYPD investigative and arrest practices related to these raids 1) How is the NYPD using gang databases? How are people selected to be placed in the database? Is there a way to challenge this placement? How is this database used in the course of enforcement actions? How is it decided when a police officer should use an “I.D.S. Gang Entry Sheet”? Is the “Gang Division’s Membership list” the only gang database being used? How are police officers trained on how to distinguish members in gangs? 2) How is the NYPD using social media to collect intelligence? Are police officers misrepresenting themselves through fake social media accounts? Are juveniles subject to this targeting? Are they pressuring people, especially minors, to hand over social media passwords or connect their networks to law enforcement in some way? How do police use this information? Is the presence of photos on social media showing alleged gang signs, tattoos, or colors, enough to bring police to undertake further surveillance or other enforcement action? Are such photoscollected and stored in a database to be used as evidence of criminal activity or criminal conspiracies? What investigative safeguards are in place to distinguish between actual criminal involvement and youthful boasting and symbolic posturing? Should the use of fake social media accounts be governed by the recent Handshu settlement agreement? 3) How is the NYPD using large scale data mining software? What are the internal trainings and guidelines for the use of such technology or for surveillance technology such as Cell Site Simulators (also known as “Stingrays”)? What privacy safeguards are in place? With whom is data being shared? 4) What is the basis for the NYPD undertaking large scale surveillance and enforcement action against young people in a specific area? Is it driven by relative crime rates, the availability of informants or other intelligence, political pressure, calls from the public, or other factors? 5) How do NYPD gang conspiracy investigations interact with on-going “focused deterrence” and “Cure Violence” initiatives that seek to use different methods to control crime? What other alternative strategies might the city pursue to reduce violence among young people that doesn’t rely on surveillance, arrests, and prosecutions? Are there circumstances in which gang enforcement has undermined such work? 6) What are the criteria for designating a group of people a gang? What are the methods or guidelines used by the NYPD to differentiate between “crews” and other loose associations of young people who are not involved in violence and those groups or individuals that are? 7) Is there racial bias in the labeling of some youth criminal activity as “gang related” and thus included in this database? What is the racial breakdown of people in gang databases, subjected to surveillance, or arrested on gang related charges? Are there any primarily white groups of youth involved in ongoingcriminal activity tied to a specific residential community? Have any of them been characterized as a gang by the NYPD? 8) What are the guidelines for how officers engaged in surveillance and other intelligence gathering activities should respond to crimes they witness while they are in progress? Have there been cases where violent acts were allowed to take place to preserve investigative integrity? Are there cases where enforcement action was taken based on surveillance even though it might have risked exposing a long term or ongoing investigation? 9) How is information being shared with federal law enforcement agencies? Does the NYPD share gang database information with any other law enforcement agencies? Does the NYPD share any information with Homeland Security or Immigrations and Customs Enforcement? What kinds of data does the NYPD receive from Federal law enforcement? 10) Is there an operational reason why arrests in these cases are conducted as. raids with SWAT teams utilizing “non-knock” warrants? If these people have been under surveillance for extended periods, could other less aggressive techniques be used that don’t jeopardize the safety of suspects, family members, and officers? We hereby request a meeting with you to discuss this request and how we might be able to assist in your investigation. Sincerely, A A Alex S. Vitale Coordinator, Policing and Social Justice Project, Brooklyn College