#NYPD unveils new blueprint for how to discipline officers over violations

The NYPD has unveiled a blueprint on how to reprimand cops for internal violations including the use of chokeholds, failing to turn on body-worn cameras and leaking information to the press.

A draft of the lengthy disciplinary matrix — which is used by other police departments across the country, including Los Angeles and New Orleans — was published online Monday morning for public review before it goes into effect on Jan. 15, 2021.

The standardized guidelines, similar to how sentencing works in criminal cases, were created on the recommendation from a panel of police experts who were tapped in 2018 to review the department’s disciplinary process.

A federal judge who ruled the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk was racist and unconstitutional also recommend the matrix.

“While the panel determined that, overall, the system is robust and fair, it also found that transparency into the process, both for the public and members of the department, was lacking and that the process sometimes took an unreasonably long amount of time from incident to final adjudication,” the draft announcement reads.

All of the other recommendations have been adopted.

“We wanted to make it very, very clear that if you do certain things there are certain consequences,” Assistant Chief Matthew Pontillo told the Associated Press, which first reported the disciplinary changes.