Gothamist interviewed Steve Vaccaro about recently-announced changes in NYPD crash investigation procedures.
A little more than a year after a shocking city council hearing laid bare the inadequacies of the NYPD’s treatment of crash investigations, the department has announced sweeping changes in policy.
Vaccaro noted that Kelly’s stipulation that the new CIS will be “notified to respond” in cases of critical injury still depends wholly on the responding officers themselves. “In the case of Clara Heyworth, AIS was notified in that case by officers on the scene, and AIS decided that they would not respond.” While the notification provision is good, “the devil is in the details.”
Vaccaro believes that an upcoming City Council hearing scheduled for April 29 to discuss the four crash investigation bills that have lingered, combined with the heartbreaking, high-profile, traffic fatalities of recent weeks forced Kelly’s hand. “Unfortunately the only way to break out of this sort of business as usual approach is to dramatize the human cost of the current system. Through a very unfortunate series of tragedies, we’re finally getting some action from City Council and the police.”
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