#NYPD ends spat between police unions, CCRB over remote hearings

The NYPD has ordered cops to appear for misconduct hearings via video — after weeks of fighting between the unions and the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board police watchdog, The Post has learned.

The departmental move comes a day after the CCRB announced an emergency meeting for Thursday to address the 500 cases that have stalled without officer interviews.

A police spokesman confirmed the new policy, saying “the NYPD remains committed to cooperating with the Civilian Complaint Review Board’s mission to carry out independent inquiries of officer alleged wrongdoing.

“To that end, the police commissioner has directed all uniformed members of the service to submit to virtual interviews with CCRB investigators and any officer who fails to appear, in any form, is subject to discipline,” the spokesman added.

The internal memo, issued to the rank-and-file of the NYPD Wednesday morning and obtained by The Post, tells cops they will be notified of a hearing seven days ahead of time and told if it will be conducted in person with safe social distancing or via remote.

If remote, cops will use Microsoft’s video-conferencing app from their service cellphone or workstation, the memo reads.

Only audio of the hearing will be recorded, according to the memo.

Union leaders have been telling its members not to attend the remote hearings over security concerns that their testimony could be recorded and leaked.

The CCRB had asked the department to start suspending cops for blowing off meetings in early July — but the NYPD said it wouldn’t get involved.

The two sides were close to striking a deal recently, with one union on board in principal — but negotiations crumbled after it was revealed during a sometimes-halting court hearing that the CCRB had provided a trove of records to the New York American Civil Liberties Union, negations fell apart, again, sources told The Post.

“CCRB has proven that they have no problem breaking rules to hurt cops. They have illegally leaked our members’ information in the past. Why shouldn’t we expect them to do the same with these remote video interviews?” the unions said in a joint statement.

The group, however, will comply will comply with the order.

“Until yesterday, there was no NYPD policy that required or even allowed remote interviews. Now that the Police Commissioner has ordered them to do so, our members will participate,” the statement continued.

The CCRB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

When asked about the delay in more than 1,100 complaints, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday, “the remote dynamics, have been a challenge throughout all parts of the criminal justice system that rely on due process, but we’ve got to get the CCRB process going aggressively.”