Police watchdog says Ray Kelly, who stepped down in 2013, offered no explanation for not disciplining officers who used banned technique

New York City’s longest-serving police commissioner, Ray Kelly, “routinely rejected” recommendations for disciplinary action against police officers who carried out banned chokeholds on civilians, and offered no explanation for dismissing the findings of the city’s independent police watchdog, a stinging report has found.

The office of the inspector general (OIG) for the NYPD published its findings on 10 substantiated chokehold cases occurring between 2008 and 2012, which was commissioned following the death of the unarmed African American Eric Garner in July last year.

The report found that in each of the cases for which Kelly held final disciplinary recommendation powers, he lowered the penalty on the offending officer recommended by the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) and in two cases said there should be no penalty at all.

NYPD “use of force” guidelines explicitly ban the use of chokeholds, with Garner’s death provoking widespread public protest at perceived police impunity following a decision not to indict the officer who placed the 43-year-old in the outlawed position.

The OIG findings are the first published by the inspector general, Philip Eure, who assumed the newly created office in March 2014.

In one such case, a 19-year-old Bronx high school student walked away during a discussion with the dean and principal who were disciplining her. To prevent her from leaving, the administrators beckoned for help from a school safety officer. The officer approached the student, and, according to the complaint, threw her against the wall and grabbed her neck with his hands for three to four seconds.

The incident, which took place in November 2008, was recorded on video, which helped the CCRB to substantiate the chokehold allegation. The board recommended administrative charges, a severe punishment which can result in termination, while the NYPD’s department advocate’s office (DAO) recommend “instructions” from the commanding officer, a mild form of punishment that can involve retraining, according to the report.

Kelly disapproved both recommendations and directed that no disciplinary action be taken against the officer for the incident despite the video evidence.

In another case from 2008, a teenage boy alleged that an officer placed him in a chokehold after detaining him on charges of armed robbery. The 15-year-old said an officer stood behind him, put his arms around his neck, and choked him so that he was unable to breathe. The boy’s story was corroborated by a statement from another teenager who was also detained at the Bronx precinct house, as well as by the officer himself. The board recommended administrative charges while the DAO recommended no disciplinary action be taken.

Kelly agreed with the DAO’s recommendation and no discipline was taken against the officer.

In nine out of the ten cases reviewed by the OIG the CCRB recommended the highest possible disciplinary procedures against the offending officers. But in all cases the officers’ discipline was commuted to much lesser procedures, mostly those involving short-term retraining.

The report notes that in the six cases where the commissioner had overall disciplinary power, he offered no explanation for the decision to commute disciplinary recommendations.

“While the police commissioner has full authority to depart from the disciplinary recommendations of CCRB, DAO, and the deputy commissioner of trials, such decision-making must be grounded in reason and should not be arbitrary,” the report notes.

“However, it appears that in none of the six cases at issue did the police commissioner furnish any explanation for his disciplinary decisions, or more specifically, his reasons for rejecting and undercutting the disciplinary recommendations of CCRB.”

The report recommends that the commissioner’s office should exercise greater transparency in making final disciplinary decisions in chokehold cases and increase “coordination and collaboration” between the NYPD and the CCRB.

The New York City mayor, Bill De Blasio, who has been at odds with police union chiefs since the waves of protest following the Garner grand jury decision, conceded that the reported “raises a question about how to create consistency in whatever process is undertaken, once a complaint is filed”.

But, speaking at a press conference on Monday, the mayor continued: “I don’t want to overstate the scope of the report, or suggest that it refers to the current moment, because I think a lot of changes are occurring.”

Police reform advocates said the report highlighted the need for greater accountability within all NYPD ranks.

“NYPD bans on chokeholds and other practices are meaningless if officers aren’t held accountable for continuing to use them,” said Priscilla Gonzalez, organizing director of the advocacy group Communities United for Police Reform, in a statement. “This report sounds the alarm bell for greater disciplinary reform and accountability at the NYPD. Until officers face real consequences for the use of excessive and deadly force, officers won’t change their behavior, and will be allowed to operate above the law.”