New York Police Department (NYPD) misconduct lawsuits have cost the city more than $540 million the last six years, according to an analysis of government data released Thursday.
Since 2018, the lawsuits have totaled $548,047,141, including $114,586,723 for 2023 alone, according to The Legal Aid Society. The real total payouts for police misconduct is almost certainly higher, since the data does not include matters that were settled with the comptroller’s office before formal litigation, according to the organization.
With few exceptions, the number of disposed lawsuits each year has decreased but the median payout has continued to grow. In 2018, there were 1,579 settlements, for a median payout of $10,500. By 2023, there were 801 lawsuits settled, at a median payout of $25,000.
Jennvine Wong, a staff attorney with the Cop Accountability Project at The Legal Aid Society, said the total amount of funds from the payouts was “staggering” and said it reveals a system that fails to hold officers accountable.
“The staggering amount of money taxpayers have to foot each year to cover alleged NYPD misconduct truly shocks the conscience, and this should enrage all New Yorkers,” Wong said.
“These payouts, which now total more than half a billion dollars since 2018, are indicative of a system that both refuses and fails to hold offending officers accountable. Rather than investing into public services and social safety nets, taxpayers are continually forced to cover the costs of violent policing,” Wong said in the statement.
A New York City Law Department spokesperson attributed the rise in settlements, at least in part, to previous convictions that are now being reversed, including ones that stem back to the 1980s and 1990s.
“Expeditious settlement of these cases avoids the risk of protracted and costlier litigation and provides some justice to people wrongfully convicted,” the spokesperson said.
The year that a given case was settled does not necessarily correlate to the date the lawsuit was filed. Many lawsuits take years to be resolved.
The Legal Aid Society news release highlighted cases that were settled up to a decade after the initial incident took place.