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Giuliani dismisses report critical of New York police

New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said the conclusions of the draft report are dated

April 27, 2000
Web posted at: 6:17 p.m. EDT (2217 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- After a published report Thursday said a draft report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is critical of the New York Police Department, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called the panel "a big joke."

Responding to a question about The New York Times article at a news conference Thursday in which he disclosed he has a treatable form of prostate cancer, Giuliani said, "I think they're a joke. I say that most respectfully, if you take what they are saying seriously, they're a big joke."

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Giuliani said, "The chairman of the commission donated to Hillary Clinton, donated to other Democrats, refused to recuse herself."

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Clinton is an announced candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-New York. Giuliani has been expected to seek the Republican nomination for the seat. He said Thursday he does not know how his prostate cancer diagnosis will affect his potential run for the seat.

The Times reported that the panel characterizes the department's "overall approach to race relations flawed in everything from training to promotions." The Times said that the commission found "the New York Police Department's own records indicate that its officers engage in racial profiling."

The draft report, according to the newspaper article, calls for the city to create a new mechanism to investigate and prosecute charges of police brutality instead of using local district attorneys "who must work with police on a daily basis." The article said the report proposes an independent monitor to review civilian complaints and urges the department to reshape its diversity training.

Giuliani criticized the commission's methods, saying its conclusions were dated. "They came here a year ago, more than a year ago and never came back," he said.

The Times reports the commission's toughest criticism is the conclusion that "the N.Y.P.D's data strongly suggests that racial profiling plays some role in the stop-and-frisk practices of the overall department."

The commission said the Diallo and Louima cases forced it to focus on the New York City Police Department

According to the newspaper, the report says data from 1998 indicated that 51 percent of the people stopped and searched by police on Staten Island were African-American, even though only 9 percent of State Island's population is black.

Giuliani disputed the report's conclusion, saying police stopped a higher percentage of minorities, because they received a higher percentage of reports of crimes committed by minority suspects.

"What it shows is the police are following rationally and sensibly the leads they are getting, as opposed to somehow disproportionately focusing on one part of the population," Giuliani said.

He also complained that the commission did not examine other cities.

The commission has reportedly said that it could not ignore New York after the 1997 station house torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima and the 1999 police shooting of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant.

The Times says the commission's report listed hundreds of thousands of documents its staff reviewed and was filled with pie charts to illustrate its case. Giuliani said that report was more detailed than the one that he received.

"Some of the things they recommended, as far as I can tell from what they sent to the Times, not what they sent to us, are things we agree with or agree with in different forms," Giuliani said.

He said the process of investigating complaints can always be improved.