NYC suburban police force strip searches for nearly everyone it arrests, DOJ says | News Today News

A suburban New York police department routinely violated residents’ civil rights, including making illegal arrests and using unnecessary strip and cavity searches, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The report on patterns and practices of police misconduct at the department in Mount Vernon, north of New York City, is one of 12 probes opened by the DOJ into local police agencies since 2021, including the killing of George Floyd. Minneapolis and Brona Taylor in Kentucky.

Neither incident prompted an investigation into Mount Vernon’s roughly 160-officer force. But the illegal strip search of two women, 65 years old and another 75 years old, in 2020 is a symbol of the department’s weakness, the report released on Thursday.

Officers searched the woman’s car, found nothing, and took her to the police station in handcuffs, the report said. Observers there approved a strip search that was completely naked, with detectives “telling them to bend over and cough.”

After an internal investigation found officers had lied about the pair buying drugs, the men involved were docked several days off, the report said.

The police union representing the department’s officers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At least until the fall of 2022, it was the practice of the Mount Vernon force that arrested every person, according to the report. Officers also strip-searched people without arresting them, detained and interrogated them without formally arresting them, and arrested people for verbally criticizing police officers.

Illegal strip and cavity searches continued until at least 2023, the report found. The investigators said that during its investigation the practice was “cut off”, adding that “we are not convinced that these practices have been eliminated.” In its list of unconstitutional arrests, the DOJ identified one incident where officers took the shooting victim’s mother to a police station for questioning, even though her daughter, who died, was taken to the hospital. The daughter died in her mother’s custody due to her daughter’s gunshot wound. Authorities did not release a probable cause for his detention.

Authorities also arrested people for insulting police, violating their right to free speech, the DOJ said.

The department also suffered from financial mismanagement, which fueled widespread human rights violations linked to illegal policies and lack of training, the report said. It noted that low salaries make it difficult to attract and retain quality officers, train staff and pay its bills, starving its supply budget.

The report notes that the city is already taking steps to improve its policing. It offered a series of recommendations, including measures to “ensure that unconstitutional strip and body cavity searches do not take place”. In a statement, Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard said the city will work with the DOJ to address its findings.

“We wholeheartedly support our good officers and at the same time will not tolerate and punish unconstitutional policing,” said Patterson-Howard, a Democrat.

The statement noted that three police officers and two civilian employees were fired following an investigation in 2021. A spokeswoman for the mayor did not immediately respond to questions about when or why the men were fired.

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