A protest against police brutality at City Hall Park, Aug. 1, 2016, in New York City.

The New York Police Department has been using dismissal probation, the practice of putting an officer on probation for a year while retaining full pay, to keep even the most extreme wrongdoers on the force.

Secret files obtained by BuzzFeed News reveal that from 2011 to 2015 at least 319 New York Police Department employees who committed offenses serious enough to merit firing were allowed to keep their jobs.

In each dismissal probation case, it’s the NYPD police commissioner—from 2011 to 2015, that’d be commissioners Bill Bratton and Ray Kelly, sequentially—who makes the final call, regardless of the recommendation generated by the preceding disciplinary trial.

Kevin Richardson, the NYPD deputy commissioner of the Department Advocate’s Office, defended the practice.

“The department is not interested in terminating officers that don't need to be terminated. We're interested in keeping employees and making our employees obey the rules and do the right thing,” he told BuzzFeed News. “But where there are failings that we realize this person should be separated from the department, this police commissioner and the prior police commissioner have shown a willingness to do that.”

Another spin? Former NYPD detective sergeant Joseph Giacalone, who served in internal affairs, defined the purpose of dismissal probation more specifically.