By Graham Rayman @ NYDailyNews.com, Feb. 28

[.....] A common thread in the lawsuits is they almost all involve low-level busts that are eventually dismissed, Legal Aid lawyers said. In most of the cases the people arrested were subjected to spending 24 to 48 hours in jail and then months of waiting for their cases to be adjudicated. In some cases, people lost their jobs because they repeatedly had to miss work, according to Legal Aid [....]

“New Yorkers should not be policed by cops who have been sued for misconduct half a dozen times or more in a single year," said Corey Stoughton, attorney-in-charge of the Special Litigation Unit of the Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society.

"What’s worse is that because of Police Secrecy Law 50a, New Yorkers will never be able to learn how, if at all, the NYPD is responding to this epidemic of police abuse of power,” added Stoughton, referring to the state law which the city has interpreted as barring the release of police personnel records, including discipline cases.

The NYPD said lawsuits against police officers have fallen. “That a lawsuit has been filed does not mean that the claims have legal merit, or that officer misconduct has occurred,” said Sgt. Jessica McRorie, an NYPD spokeswoman.[....]