NYPD officer suing city over perceived quotas

A lawsuit filed by several minority NYPD officers claims they and other officers are being pressured to enforce a quota system, but the police commissioner says no quota exists. NYPD Officer Edwin

News 12 Staff

Mar 2, 2016, 5:48 AM

Updated 3,179 days ago

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A lawsuit filed by several minority NYPD officers claims they and other officers are being pressured to enforce a quota system, but the police commissioner says no quota exists.
NYPD Officer Edwin Raymond says the NYPD is enforcing quotas, even though the practice is banned by state law. "When it comes to mass incarceration in New York City, the quota is at the root of it," says Raymond, who has been a police officer for eight years. "I've, unfortunately, witnessed this quota destroy lives."
Raymond is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against the city; 11 other minority police officers are involved in the suit.
"When you put pressure on cops to come up with numbers, they're not going to midtown Manhattan and choking somebody in the middle of the street," says Officer Adil Polanco. "It's a black, it's a Hispanic, it's the LGBT community. We go for the most vulnerable."
The NYPD told News 12 that it doesn't adhere to a quota system, and NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton called the quota claim "bull----" during a news conference last week.
"He's entitled to that impression, but those are not the practices, policies, procedures that I'm putting into this organization," said Bratton.
But Raymond says he has proof in the form of taped conversations with his superiors. He says he was told to increase his arrest numbers.