The New York City Police Department announced on Wednesday, March 24, a new online system the public can use to report certain, low-level police complaints. The new NYPD On-Line Reporting Service system is operational on the department’s website— NYPDonline.org – for acceptance of complaints relating to lost property, petit larceny, misdemeanor criminal mischief and graffiti.

 

Department officials said it is the latest in a series of innovations designed to deepen the digital links between New Yorkers and their police. The agency confirmed that it has recently placed career and discipline information about all 35,000 officers online, has published a penalty matrix designed to increase transparency over internal discipline, and has posted dashboards online about matters like hate crimes, departmental demographics, and the use of force.

 

The department said the new complaint reporting system also serves to strengthen “the NYPD’s ongoing, on-the-ground work in reinforcing its links with communities across New York City to improve public safety.”

 

Recently, the department embarked on a Graffiti Clean-Up initiative, featuring officers and those they serve, working together to paint over spots identified by residents as being marred by graffiti. More Paint-Ins around the city are also being planned, beginning next month. Norwood News reported in January on a paint-over of graffiti on the walls of the Kingsbridge Armory.

 

In reference to the new portal, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said, “This is another step forward into modern, 21^st century policing.” He added, “This tool, and others like it, are part of our continuing work to keep people safe and improve the quality of life for millions of New Yorkers. Our NYPD online reporting service will increase transparency and improve accountability to the people we serve. And it will make police services more easily accessible.”

 

Department officials said public satisfaction is at the heart of the NYPD’s effort to build on the work of the agency’s neighborhood policing philosophy, and to strengthen the relationships between officers and city residents across all five boroughs.

During the March Bronx Community Board 7 executive meeting, Deputy Inspector Thomas Alps of the 52nd precinct outlined a separate, planned collaboration between the precinct, local community volunteers and certain city agencies in addressing factors which can propel crime and high rates of gun violence in specific blocks and neighborhoods, such as low employment, poor quality-of-life conditions, excess graffiti and poor hygiene. A kick-off event is scheduled for Thursday, March 25, with local community group, Guerinos Against Graffiti, already on board.

 

Meanwhile, the offenses covered by the new NYPD reporting system are among certain low-level ones that the NYPD must document and assess. They say doing so often requires interaction with police officers, or with police station house personnel, and the documentation is a procedural necessity. Additional categories of complaints will be added to the system in the future.

 

To expedite the filing of such complaints, and to allow the public’s contact with the police to become more linear and efficient, the department said the process is now being streamlined – hence the use of the portal. Once people file a report online, they will receive an immediate email confirming its receipt. The digital exchange will continue within a matter of days, as a follow up email will be sent by police, including an official complaint report number. People will hear back from an officer if further investigation or information is needed.

 

According to the agency, these improvements will serve the public, whether they are residents of New York City or elsewhere. They are also in line with the best health practices that remain in place to help manage the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak because they will limit in-person contact for members of the public wishing to log complaints.

Department officials said the innovations also allow for certain patrol officers to be freed up from the administrative duties of manually filling out complaint paperwork so that these officers can be utilized by department commanders for deployment to any areas experiencing upticks in more serious forms of crime and disorder.

 

At the same time, from a public service standpoint, the quick digital communications will speed up the reporting and follow-up necessary to thoroughly manage each report and to satisfy all the people who file them.

 

We asked the NYPD if the portal could be used to log noise complaints and we were referred to the following press conference during which the new portal was presented by the NYPD. It can be viewed here. The new reporting system does not appear to be used to report noise complaints, though as mentioned earlier, it may be expanded upon to include other offenses in the future.