From Impact to Fed Monitor. An examination of how the NYPD has modified its practices after scrutiny and Federal intervention

The NYPD mission statement stands as a basic guiding principle on how Officers should move towards their goals of reduced crime, reduced fear and enhanced quality of life while uniformly falling in line with constitutional protections. Specifically, applying differing tactics and methods to communities based on race or class are prohibited. How then, did the Department find itself on the losing end of a class action discrimination lawsuit? How has the decision impacted daily policing practices? What policies have been mandated and how has the presence of a Federal monitor modified the ‘typical’ Department response to charges of unfair practices?

This paper should begin by examining the history of consent decrees present in the Department and examine how NYPD tactics were modified as a result. There should be a review of the ‘Impact’ program and its heavy reliance on quality of life policing. This program had an outsized negative impact on communities of color and ultimately resulted in a Federal monitor being put into place. How did the NYPD modify its practices after this happened?