CM Wong on constituents being discouraged from filing crime reports

The reason I'm concerning is because...

When I worked for him, we got these phone calls of people that went, call 911 and

were told that they're not going to take, no police report to be taken, or they went in the police precincts and they asked for a fire police report and they were turned away.

So it seemed to me, at least in my district, but it seems to be as a citywide problem that

these crime stats do not accurately reflect what's really happening out there because people were told they're not taking the reports or not to file a report.

So a few things on that.

And Chair, if I may have just a few moments to respond to that.

Yes, yeah.

So, again, this is not a new issue.

Right?

And are there times in which cops, officers do not take crime complaints correctly?

Yes, that happens.

It does.

It's a relatively small number of officers, but it does occur.

We have extensive, extensive checks in place.

I described to you sort of the whole auditing process.

And in the commands, there are other layers as well.

The crime analysis sergeant, the self-inspections that happen, detective bureau follow-up.

So there are any number of things, systems in place that we have.

What you've seen under Commissioner Tisch is a tremendous focus on compliance and oversight.

And frankly, to the extent, on those occasions when officers engage in misconduct, the disciplinary consequences are severe.

And what I would say is, if there's ever a time when your office receives a complaint of a police officer not properly taking a crime report, please refer that to us immediately, and it will be sent to IAB immediately for investigation.

I'm looking forward to see the QA order reports because, again, I have to respond to my constituents.

They don't feel there's any safer or crime is down, and I have to answer to that.

I got to say, though, I got to say, we're talking about murders and shootings.

Is a suggestion that...

There are bodies that we're unaware of?

We're talking about overall crime data that does not accurately reflect.

This is not talking about murders or shootings.

This is about ordinary citizens who want to file a police report and it will turn away.

Like from stolen bikes, stolen catalytic converters, stolen rims, you know, that normally a police report will be taken, but they're not.

And, sir, if...

And on occasions when that happens, right, please tell us so we can investigate and take appropriate steps.

This is very important to us.

But I want to be clear.

These are the exceptions.

The vast majority of police officers are doing this the right way, trying to help victims, taking proper complaint reports.

And we have a lot of checks in place, a lot, to catch those instances in which officers fall short.

Yeah, and I'm going to end that by we have individuals that were told that don't call 911.

You have a problem, call the police prison directly.

And then I hear from multiple people.

So those are my concerns coming from my end, which I believe the data that I've seen does not reflect these cases that I've just told you about.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Wong.

Next, we'll hear from Councilmember Marano.