Chair Brooks-Powers questions NYPD discovery liaison unit staffing and case limits

How many officers are assigned to discovery liaison units in the district attorney's offices within each borough?

Are there any civilians assigned to those units?

Are there limits in place as to what types of cases those liaisons can work on?

And if so, why are those limitations established and are there differences between the boroughs?

Okay, I'm going to do my best to hit a few of those, and if I miss anything, please just tell me.

Thank you.

So it's a strictly uniform position.

There are no civilians assigned to the Discovery Liaison Unit.

There is one lieutenant who oversees...

The unit from a central position.

That lieutenant is based in one police plaza.

And then there are five sergeants also assigned to the discovery liaison unit.

Five sergeants would be one in each respective county district attorney office.

And then there are 25 additional uniforms in the rank of police officer and detective.

That varies a little bit on the headcount for each of those ranks.

And those 25 are split amongst the DA offices.

Now, I think you asked for the case types.

So I touched on it a little earlier.

So I think it's easiest to think about it in two primary buckets.

There's proactive or automatic case assistance.

That's contingent upon...

The arrest type, the arrest charge, murders, attempted murders, shootings, shots fired, criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, robbery first degree.

And then there are the DA requests.

There are times where the prosecution has difficulty obtaining materials that

materials that or arrests or materials relating to arrests that aren't in those proactive nature of cases, right?

This is a DA request.

So the arresting officer is maybe not available or there is a speedy trial issue or a grand jury.

Need to get that material as soon as possible.

So then they also work on a DA request.

So the district attorney's offices have guidance.

They're great partners.

They utilize them whenever needed.

And then they're

There is direct case assistance embedded in each of the DA's offices when they need assistance.