By Joe Clark / 04.04.2016
Ten NYPD officers sat down on camera with NBC New York to discuss racism and the illegal quota based system they say their department still uses to judge a cop’s performance.
In 2010, the State of New York banned law enforcement agencies from using quota based job performance evaluations. NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton repeatedly denies the existence of any quota based system. Bratton says that the NYPD responds to specific conditions within communities to reduce crime.
However, Julio Diaz, New York chapter president of the Latino Officers Association, contradicts the commissioner. Diaz said:
I can tell you I’m a police officer, and there are quotas in the NYPD.
The 10 NYPD officers who spoke to NBC News are plaintiffs, along with two other police officers, in a federal class-action lawsuit. The suit claims that the NYPD is continuing the practice of illegal quotas and retaliating against officers who fail to make their numbers.
According to several officers, cops who work in minority neighborhoods are under constant, intense pressure from supervisors to “get numbers.”
They’ll tell you to your face: blacks, Hispanics, from 14 to 21, they must get stopped,” said NYPD officer Pedro Serrano.
He added, “We’re the predators. They’re the prey. The worst thing you can have is a police officer that needs an arrest for the month. There’s no discretion.
Here is a video of the interview: