GIST: "City payouts in police misconduct cases are up by nearly $30 million, while the number of new lawsuits has fallen, according to new data. In 2019, the city paid out $68,688,423 to people who claim they were aggrieved by cop misconduct including in cases of excessive use of force, assault, malicious prosecution, false arrest or false imprisonment. In 2018, the city only paid out $38,951,976. The tally of payouts over the last five years is $300,754,486, according to the city data. While the settlement and verdict amounts have increased by nearly $30 million, the number of new lawsuits filed in the last year has fallen by over 200 cases. In 2019, 1,383 police misconduct cases were filed, while 1,615 were filed in 2018, according to the data. Ten of the largest settlements from 2019 account for over $23 million in payouts — or nearly half of the total from last year. The highest settlement amount went to Derrick Hamilton who had his conviction overturned in 2015 after spending over 20 years in prison. Hamilton — who was convicted by shady cop Louis Scarcella — received $6,625,000 from the city last year. The family of Deborah Danner — the mentally ill woman who was fatally shot by Sgt. Hugh Barry in her Bronx apartment while wielding a bat — received a $2 million settlement from the city in 2019. But the Legal Aid Society says there are major problems with the way the city reports the data that obscures the costs of these types of cases. For instance, lawsuits that are settled before they even get to court are not included in the figures. A rep with Legal Aid also said the fact that the city only releases the last five years of data obscures the running totals as old cases settle years later. “An epidemic of misconduct within the New York City Police Department continues to cost New York City taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each year,” Corey Stoughton of Legal Aid said. Stoughton called for Albany to repeal the 50a law that shields certain information about officers from coming out without a court order. “Police Secrecy Law 50a denies us data about how and why that misconduct occurs and what the NYPD is doing — or more to the point, not doing — about it,” Stoughton said Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins said the city pays to avoid trouble. “Either the city pays out just because they pay out and it’s easier for them to do; the community policing program doesn’t work; cops are out of control and their training doesn’t work; or the anti-police atmosphere is just producing a lot more lawsuits because people know police are an easy target,” Mullins said. John Jay College Professor Eugene O’Donnell said the city is quick to settle claims against the police. “This is the most anti-police administration in city history and it permeates everything that they do and they have definitely cut checks in cases that are very dubious — giant checks,” O’Donnell said. “Rather than explain and defend policing they have handed over taxpayer money.” A rep with the city Law Department said that the number of new police misconduct cases has been declining since 2017. “The number of lawsuits continues to decline. We’re taking more cases to trial than ever before to fight for officers,” the Law Dept. spokesperson said. “We’ve improved the city’s fact-finding process, filed more motions to dismiss cases and added resources and personnel to reduce settlements.” NYPD spokeswoman Sgt. Jessica McRorie responded: “Lawsuits against the New York City Police Department have drastically decreased in recent years. “NYC Administrative Code 7-114 requires the New York City Law Department posts on its website civil actions ‘resulting from allegations of improper police conduct.’ That a lawsuit has been filed does not mean that the claims have legal merit, or that officer misconduct has occurred or will be proven.” She added, “Mere filing rates should not be utilized as performance indicators of either the Department or individual officers. Moreover, as the Law Department’s website states, it is important to recognize that disposition amounts listed in the report cannot be attributable to particular defendant officers, who may have been dismissed from the lawsuit prior to the final resolution of the case.”