TESTIMONY
Joseph Kenny, Chief of Detectives of the NYPD, on Efforts to Ensure Integrity of Convictions and Prevent Wrongful Convictions
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6 min
Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives of the New York City Police Department, presents a comprehensive testimony on efforts to ensure the integrity of convictions and prevent wrongful convictions.
He describes how the department works closely with conviction integrity units, the steps taken to improve investigative procedures, strict procedures regarding witness identifications, the role of video evidence in building strong and accurate cases, and additional protocols to safeguard the questioning process, especially for juveniles.
Joseph Kenny
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Good morning, Chase Salam, and members of the council.
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I am Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives of the New York City Police Department.
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I am joined today by Neil Fenton, our Executive Director of the department's investigative support and training unit.
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Andrew Patello, the executive director of Discovery Compliance Unit Josh Levine, the acting director of the province's legislative affairs unit, On behalf of police commissioner, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to discuss the NYPD's commitment to ensure integrity of convictions, and the practices and policies we have in place to prevent wrongful convictions.
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To be clear, every One wrongful conviction is too many.
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It is counted to everything that we stand for.
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When the wrong person is arrested and later convicted, It is a failure of the justice system, and the consequences for the wrongful person convicted the horror, not only for them, but for their family and friends, is beyond words.
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The department's mission is to ensure public safety and achieve justice for victims while working tirelessly to make sure that the individuals being arrested charged and convicted of the crimes are in fact guilty of those crimes.
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For that reason, the NYPD works hand in hand with the conviction integrity units at prosecutors offices at the state and federal level.
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We deliver evidence and files at their request.
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And make the NYPD resources available to support their critical work for what they are doing.
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Their efforts have our full support.
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Consistent with those efforts, we have taken a variety of steps over the years to improve investigative procedures in order to prevent errors as we build our cases.
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Every day, we rely on witnesses and victims who come forward to tell us what they know.
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Without the accounts of witnesses, Most of our investigations would go nowhere.
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But we recognize the human element and that witnesses make mistakes.
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That is why we have strict procedures regarding witness identifications to ensure that a witness's memory is not unduly influenced and even inadvertently by our investigators.
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Follow arrays are the primary way victims and witnesses identify or exclude suspects during our investigations.
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These follower rays are conducted using a double blind procedure.
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A detect a detective provides a picture of a suspect and a computer system generates 5 additional photographs that look like the suspect will include in the array.
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The array is then placed in a sealed envelope.
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Next, a second detective who was not involved in the case administers the array to the witnesses by allowing the witness to open the previously sealed envelope.
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This minimizes the risk that the detective will unintentionally influence a witness and identify the suspect because the detective administering the array does not know which photo in the array belongs to that suspect.
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Language is also important.
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Our written protocols demand that only neutral language may be used and that the identification procedure itself be attempted to be audio recorded.
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And, of course, the photo array must be provided during discovery so that could be scrutinized by both the prosecutor and the defense attorney.
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As of today, Monday, February 26 2024, to additional lineups like the ones you often see in television and in movies, have played a smaller and smaller role in our investigations since the COVID 19 pandemic.
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But our policies and actuses in those lineups are designed again to minimize the risk of influence of influencing the witness.
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Detectives follow a strict neutral script while administering the lineup to prevent bias, to maintain the consistency across all investigations.
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As a further safeguard, the suspect's attorney is present during the lineup.
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And may make suggestions regarding the aspect of the lineup itself.
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The collection and use of video recordings also is an important role in our efforts to prevent wrongful convictions.
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So many interactions, so many crimes are now caught on video.
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That may be video from a business, a bystander, the victim themselves, or by NYPD Commerce.
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Investigators draw on video evidence piecing together footage.
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Taken at different angles and at different moments.
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Tracing a criminals' moments before, during and after a crime, can provide crucial evidence in a case.
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It can also help us exclude suspects.
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There are times when a witness remembers an event a certain way, but the video evidence tells us otherwise.
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That is important for building good cases and preventing errors.
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Video evidence is important in another aspect.
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It captures interactions between the police officers and suspects.
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When patrol officers engage in enforcement activity, they are required to turn on their body worn cameras.
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The circumstances of the arrest, including the surge of the suspect, spect, and any conversation between the offices and the suspect are now recorded.
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When it comes to questioning by our detectives, State law requires us to video record interrogations of adults suspected of serious crime.
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We impose additional requirements beyond those required by law, and require video recording of additional felony interrogations, including old gun crimes.
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For juveniles, Every interrogation is videotaped and subject to additional safeguards.
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We attempt to notify a parent or guardian in in every instance and often will wait hours to allow a parent or guardian to arrive to be present for the interrogation.
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If the parent or guardian seek to discuss the matter with the juvenile, The detectives provide a private room so they can do so unrecorded.
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If at any point the parent or guardian say they do not wish for the juvenile or talk with us, the questioning is over.
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If at any point the juvenile or the parent request an attorney, the questioning is over.
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Safety of the juveniles is in our custody is also critical, and they are not detained together with adults.
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So let me end where I began.
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We care deeply about preventing wrongful convictions.
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We have to get this right.
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Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today, and we're pleased to answer any questions.