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A Round and a Roundy: The NYPD Discipline Problem

A new lawsuit seeks the hiring of a monitor to oversee the NYPD — something both the mayor and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said was unnecessary. Our cartoonist begs to differ.
A Round and a Roundy: The NYPD Discipline Problem
Cartoon: Bill Roundy
Editorial cartoon of Bill Roundy by editorial cartoonist Bill Roundy.
Editorial cartoon of Bill Roundy by editorial cartoonist Bill Roundy.

This week, our national treasure cartoonist Bill Roundy was inspired by Attorney General Letitia James’s lawsuit against the NYPD, its top officials and the mayor that alleges that the police department’s brutal practices have deprived New Yorkers of their civil rights.

The federal suit seeks the appointment of a monitor to oversee the NYPD — something both the mayor and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said was unnecessary given how much reform the NYPD is already doing (that’s not snark; that’s really what they said).

Roundy, for one, wasn’t buying it. For one thing, we know that the existing oversight of the NYPD — the Civilian Complaint Review Board — is hobbled by its very configuration: Even if the CCRB’s investigators substantiate a claim of police misconduct, the amount of (or lack of) punishment is up to … Dermot Shea.

That explains the cartoon leash. And the CCRB guy merely asking the brutal police officer to stop beating up that peaceful protester. Yes, it’s another Roundy classic.

Collect them all, right here, where fine cartoons are archived.

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