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TESTIMONY
Testimony by Dareth Ogle, Member of the Public, on empowering the Civilian Complaint Review Board for police accountability
1:41:46
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3 min
Dareth Ogle, a paralegal and lifelong New York City resident, testifies for reforms to grant the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) substantive power and ensure real accountability for police misconduct.
Drawing from her experiences as a citizen and in various legal roles (prosecutorial, criminal defense, civil litigation), she describes observing excessive force, officer impunity, and the systemic advantages law enforcement possesses.
Ogle argues that a lack of meaningful recourse for citizens and the financial burden of misconduct settlements necessitate stronger CCRB authority.
Dareth Ogle
1:41:46
Hi.
1:41:46
Hello.
1:41:48
Good aft good evening.
1:41:50
I apologize.
1:41:51
I'm having trouble with my camera.
1:41:53
I thought it worked, but now that I'm talking, it doesn't wanna work.
1:41:56
Nonetheless, my name is Derek Ogle.
1:41:59
I was born in Queens, raised in Brooklyn, and lived in New York City all of my life, thus far, and I'm now 28 years old.
1:42:09
I have three members of law enforcement, a part of my family, albeit they're all retired.
1:42:15
And I'm here today to testify and ask the Charter Review Commission to adopt key reforms to give the civilian complaint review board real power to make to I'm sorry.
1:42:25
To move New York City from symbolic oversight to real and effective accountability.
1:42:31
As an everyday citizen, as a prosecutorial paralegal, previous prosecutorial paralegal, as a criminal defense paralegal, and as a paralegal slash civil servant handling civil litigation, I know that this is necessary.
1:42:47
As an everyday citizen, I watch officers, not all, but a significant amount, engage in excessive and brute force against vulnerable populations and demographics.
1:42:58
I watch how they are able to seize an individual's bodily autonomy, how you'll have three sets of hands and bodies, officers, tackling one person who only has two arms and two legs.
1:43:13
I see officers intentionally escalate in interactions, then throw people to the ground, pressing citizens' faces and bodies to the filthy pavement.
1:43:23
Then those very same officers hold themselves as heroes while they smirk and make disrespectful remarks and with condescending tones.
1:43:33
I see, over time, more policing with an ego as the norm and less as in I'm sorry.
1:43:42
In sorry.
1:43:45
As an offset to safety.
1:43:49
They fully understand in those smirks and in those comments and in their body language, they fully understand that there are no consequences nor recourse for citizens.
1:43:59
As a paralegal in the prosecutorial role, I immediately became aware of the systemic advantage with which officers and law enforcement has, immediate access to body worn camera footage and resourceful criminal justice databases.
1:44:15
I would listen to how officers casually would disregard civilians' conditions in relation to poverty.
1:44:24
And often, some of the marks that they would make that lets me know that they really don't care about public safety.
1:44:29
A lot of the time, again, it's about their own ego and just getting a collar.
1:44:34
And again, this is not all officers, but a significant amount.
1:44:39
As a paralegal in the criminal defense capacity, I watch in how these interactions can have lasting and drastic effects in the lives of New Yorkers.
1:44:52
And as a paralegal who handles civil litigation, I see how it is a burden that is passed on to this so excuse me.
1:45:01
The taxpayers of the City Of New York through misconduct settlements and through the salaries that are paid to these officers.
Richard Buery
1:45:10
I and I apologize.