Hurricane Sandy prevented the total number of complaints filed against NYPD cops with the Civilian Complaint Review Board last year from rising for the first time since 2009, The Post has learned.
The total number of CCRB complaints in 2012 dipped just two percent over the previous year’s totals, the fourth time in five years that the total number of complaints against the city’s cops has fallen.
The two percent drop — the smallest since numbers generally started heading downwards in 2007 — translated into a scant 144 fewer cases in 2012 compared to 2011, from 5,964 complaints in 2011 compared to 5,820 last year.
But CCRB numbers were trending upwards in the second half of 2012, with increases posted in July, August, September and October .
Following the ravages of Sandy, the agency was ousted from its Lower Manhattan offices and forced to adopt a new phone number — one that didn’t hook up with the city’s 311 information line — after the storm.
Such factors meant that the CCRB took fewer complaints in November and December and all but guarantee that had Sandy not occurred, the complaint tally would have surely tipped upwards in 2012 for the first time since a slight increase was registered in 2009.
Overall, CCRB complaints have fallen 21 percent between 2007 (when they reached a record-high of 7,549) and 2011.
A spokeswoman for the CCRB declined to comment, as the agency is expected to provide further details about its year-end figures for 2012 at a monthly meeting scheduled for later this morning at 209 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn.
The CCRB allows members of the public to file complaints against cops that can include up to four separate allegations – those involving improper use of force; abuse of authority; discourtesy or offensive language – that might stem from a single confrontation.
The complaints are then investigated for further action by civilian investigators in a bid to see if they can be substantiated or deemed unfounded or, in some cases, cops are considered “exonerated.”.
A breakdown of the categories of complaints from last year compared to 2011 shows that while the total number fell by two percent, the seriousness of the allegations increased by a slight margin.
For instance, the total number of complaints alleging discourtesy and offensive language fell by 243 and 18, respectively, between last year and 2011.
However, the allegations of force or abuse of authority — more serious categories of police misconduct — rose by 28 and 248, respectively.