Decertified New York Cops Rehired Elsewhere: Report
An investigation by The Intercept showed that New York police officers who were decertified by the state after being fired or resigning following disciplinary action were able to be rehired at other public safety agencies and departments.
Landwebs
An investigation by The Intercept showed that New York police officers who were decertified by the state after being fired, or after resigning following disciplinary action, were able to be rehired at other public safety agencies and departments. Following the police killing of Eric Garner, New York’s Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) enacted regulations that required officers who are fired or resign during the disciplinary process be reported to DCJS and that their training certificates be invalidated. However, the law does not prevent these officers from later being rehired and recertified to continue police work. Documents obtained by The Intercept and New York Focus under the Freedom of Information Act show that 27 former law enforcement officers decertified by state regulators were then rehired by another police department or public safety agency.
New York DCJS acts mainly as a record keeper of officer decertification and does not participate in investigating or firing officers. The majority of regulatory responsibilities are left up to police chiefs who can decide when to fire an officer and whether to rehire a decertified officer if they retrain. In April, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law policing reforms that would allow DCJS to conduct investigations, allow for permanent certificate revocations and require police chiefs to report disciplinary investigations up the chain. The law, which goes into effect in October, still does not ban decertified officers from being rehired, but does require the release of officers’ names and misconduct.
