NYC NOW - September 12, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

Mayor Adams is tapping former FBI official, Tom Donlon, as interim commissioner of the NYPD amid multiple investigations into his inner circle that have now reached into the police department. Plus, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is scheduled to have a minor medical procedure Friday to remove a common skin cancer. And finally, WNYC’s Janae Pierre talks with public safety reporter, Samantha Max, about officials’ reluctance to investigate the hundreds of sexual assault claims of women who say they were sexually assaulted at Rikers Island jails.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jene Pierre. There's a shake-up underway at the NYPD. Mayor Eric Adams is tapping former FBI official Tom Donlan as interim commissioner of the NYPD. The move comes after Commissioner Edward Caban resigned Thursday, one week after federal officials seized his and his twin brothers' phones as part of an investigation into James Cabans' business as a nightlife consultant. Donlin is a Bronx native who ran the FBI NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force.

He also worked as the head of the New York Office of Homeland Security. New York Governor Kathy Hochel will have a minor medical procedure Friday morning to remove a common skin cancer. The governor says a doctor discovered a basal cell carcinoma on her nose during a routine checkup a couple weeks ago. I want to make sure that everybody's smart about this and use your suntan lotion, make sure your kids are protected for the Irish. It's very common and just about everybody in my family. Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer, with more than 3 million cases a year in the U.S. alone. That's according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. Hockel says she'll be back on the job an hour after the procedure.

City, state, and federal officials have been reluctant to investigate the hundreds of sexual assault claims of women who say they were sexually assaulted at Rikers Island jails. More on that after the break. For the last several months, WNYC has been investigating allegations of sexual abuse at Rikers Island. More than 700 women have sued the city saying they were sexually assaulted by staff while they were held at the city's women's jail. But what are city officials doing to address these allegations? To help answer that, we're joined by Samantha Max, who covers public safety for WMYC. Let's start with the Department of Correction, which oversees city jails. What are they doing about these hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse against people in their custody?

So the Department of Correction is responsible for supervising its employees and when they violate policy, they're responsible for disciplining them. Commissioner Linnell McGinley Liddy has not granted us an interview and her press team says the department can't talk about the specifics of the allegations that have been made in these lawsuits since they're still being litigated in court. She did say in a statement that the agency has a zero tolerance policy toward all forms of sexual abuse. and now trains all of its staff, volunteers, and contractors that are coming into the city jails to prevent, detect, and report any sexual abuse or harassment. But I do want to note that at least 40 lawsuits describe assaults that allegedly occurs in the past six years, some as recently as the last couple of years. The spokesperson also said all allegations are investigated thoroughly,

and if they think that some serious misconduct might have occurred, they'll refer it to an outside agency like prosecutors. But the department also puts out data on these types of allegations and that data shows that staff and detainees rarely face punishment when they are accused of sexual assault and harassment. Last year, out of 177 sexual abuse cases that were reported, investigators only substantiated six of them. You know, that could be due to a bunch of different reasons.

Some could have been false reports, but it could also partially be due to challenges gathering evidence and backlogs in the investigative process, which could be preventing the department from really thoroughly investigating these complaints. You know, Mayor Eric Adams appointed the commissioner of the city jail system, right? So he's her boss and he ultimately has responsibility over Rikers Island. What's been the mayor's response to all these lawsuits? After my colleague Jesse Edwards and I first reported on these allegations in March, the mayor called for a thorough investigation. But he later backtracked. He said that investigation would be performed by the law department, which is actually responsible for fighting lawsuits against the city in court. Some of the correction officers accused in the lawsuit still work for the city. Some still even work in the women's jail.

And then at a press conference last week, Adams wouldn't say. whether he thinks current correction officers facing allegations should be placed on leave until after these allegations can be investigated. But a growing number of people are calling for more action from the mayor. That includes some of his challengers who are going to be running against him in next year's mayor election, and Sandy Nurse, who's the chair of the city council's criminal justice committee. She told me the mayor has failed to take a bunch of different steps to address the hundreds of allegations, like convening a task force or hiring an outside investigative firm.

The mayor did not create the conditions for what has occurred at Rikers and what happens at Rikers and the failures that continue to happen at Rikers. But he did sign up to be the executive of the city, and he did then sign up to inherit these problems. All of this is happening as the city is fighting against requests for a federal takeover of the jail system. which Adams is fiercely opposed. Yeah. And I want to note, these are civil lawsuits,

but could anyone accused in the complaints be charged with a crime? So prosecutors would need to investigate the allegations and determine whether they thought that a crime had occurred. And then also whether the allegations fall within the legal deadline for bringing charges, which is also known as the statute of limitations. So if there were believed to have been a federal crime committed, the U.S. Attorney's Office could bring charges. But the main agency that's responsible for investigating alleged crimes on Rikers Island is the Office of Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark.

After WN.Y.C. first reported on all these lawsuits, Clark's Office would not commit to reviewing the allegations. We continue to follow up and follow up. And after that, the DA's office did set up a tip line for plaintiffs who want to pursue criminal charges. And then later on, the office told, us, it would take a more proactive approach and actually review the allegations to determine if criminal investigations should be opened. Since then, the DA's office hasn't provided details on the scope of their review. They haven't announced any criminal charges at this point. But I should note that sexual assault cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute. And the fact that many of these allegations are decades old and don't even name a specific

officer could make it even more challenging to investigate or bring charges. The city also has an independent watchdog agency that's the Department of Investigation. Is the DOI looking into these allegations? We actually don't know because their policy is not to comment on investigations that may or may not be happening, which would be secret until the investigation were done. But we do know that the department can investigate any city agency or official. and has a whole team dedicated to the Department of Correction. They have conducted various investigations into the jail system in the past,

sometimes on individual cases that lead to criminal charges for things like smuggling, sometimes for bigger picture things like how the department searches people that are visiting the jail or issues with hiring practices or its prior contractor for medical care. A spokesperson for the Department of Investigation told me, that the agency has made more than two dozen recommendations to the jail system to better detect and address illegal sexual contact between staff and people in detention. But records from the agency show that jail officials actually rejected some of those recommendations, including suggestions to retain video footage from the women's jail for a year instead of for just three months. And to make sure that at least one female officer supervises detainees during their work.

work assignments or while they're being escorted around the jail. That's WNYC's Samantha Max. You can read her full story on our news site, Gothamist. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.