XI.          THE DEPARTMENT SHOULD ADOPT PRESUMPTIVE PENALTIES IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES AS RECOMMENDED BY CCPC

Given concerns for the safety of domestic violence victims and the public, the Panel recommends that the Department adopt a written policy for discipline in domestic violence cases. The policy should increase the presumptive penalty in physical domestic violence cases in which the officer is the primary aggressor. In each such case, the NYPD should carefully evaluate whether the member is suited to be an officer.

The Panel notes that the CCPC has recommended that the Department adopt clear disciplinary guidelines for domestic violence.[137] The Panel recommends that the NYPD promptly implement the following CCPC recommendations: (1) in addition to forfeiture of vacation or suspension days and counseling, dismissal probation should be the presumptive penalty for physical domestic violence in which the officer is the primary aggressor; (2) where there is clear and convincing evidence that a member the of service has a history of physical domestic violence, termination should be the presumptive penalty; and (3) officers found guilty of domestic violence in a criminal proceeding should be terminated, regardless of whether there is a history of abuse.

By including dismissal probation in the penalty, the Department will convey both to officers and to the public that it recognizes the seriousness of the offense, while giving the officer an opportunity for rehabilitation. This approach also allows the Department to more easily terminate repeat offenders, which is important for addressing the often recurrent nature of this misconduct.[138]

XII.        THE DEPARTMENT SHOULD UPGRADE AND INTEGRATE ITS CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

As noted above, the lack of an integrated case management system hampered the Panel’s efforts to study issues of delay, inconsistency, and bias in the disciplinary system. The Panel recommends that the Department dedicate sufficient resources to create and promptly implement a centralized and fully integrated case management system, capable of tracking disciplinary cases from inception to final disposition.

The Panel recommends that the final product capture all relevant case criteria, including officer attributes (rank, disciplinary history, demographic information, etc.), type of misconduct, mitigating or aggravating circumstances, case disposition, age of case, length of time spent in each disciplinary phase, penalty recommendation, and penalty outcome. The case management