For the primary time in almost six years, the NYPD’s unbiased oversight entity, the Civilian Grievance Overview Board (CCRB) has a everlasting chair in Jennifer Jones Austin, an anti-poverty champion and advisor to a number of mayoral administrations.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani named Jones Austin as CCRB chair Friday morning, saying that she would lead the company with “integrity, compassion and an unwavering commitment to justice.”
“Trust between government and the communities we serve lay at the heart of public safety,” Jones Austin mentioned in an announcement following the announcement. “It is our responsibility as public servants to deepen trust by promoting transparency and integrity through our every action.”
Mamdani mentioned Jones Austin would advance his administration’s “whole of government” method to public security by bringing a background in social justice to police accountability.
“Jennifer Jones Austin has spent her career standing with New Yorkers who are too often shut out of the halls of power,” he mentioned. “She understands that public safety and accountability go hand in hand, and that trust must be earned through action.”
Jones Austin at the moment serves as CEO and government director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Companies (FPWA), an financial safety advocacy and coverage group. She’s additionally vice chair of the board of Reverend Al Sharpton’s Nationwide Motion Community (NAN), a number one legal justice and police accountability group.
By way of Jones Austin’s work at NAN, Sharpton mentioned, she had fought for police accountability whereas constructing bridges with regulation enforcement to foster reform from inside.
“Jennifer understands that meaningful change requires both accountability and partnership — working outside the system to demand justice while engaging inside the system to achieve lasting reform,” Sharpton mentioned. “She brings the experience, credibility, and judgment this moment demands.”
Jones Austin’s appointment follows a sequence of high-profile public security selections out of Metropolis Corridor, together with retaining Jessica Tisch as police commissioner, whom Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams, had appointed in November 2024. In maintaining Tisch, Mamdani credited her with bringing stability and reform to the NYPD, however the choice rankled quite a lot of his supporters who had hoped the brand new mayor would begin contemporary.
Mamdani has confronted continued criticism from his base over public security compromises which have deviated from marketing campaign guarantees. As a mayoral candidate, he appeared to point that he would make sure the CCRB had the ultimate phrase in recommending disciplinary motion towards law enforcement officials discovered to have acted in violation of their authorized duties. After his election, nonetheless, he clarified his place to say that he believed the CCRB’s suggestions ought to be “taken seriously.”
Chapter 18, part 440 of town constitution states that the CCRB has the facility to “receive, investigate, hear, make findings and recommend action upon complaints” towards members of the police pressure, and that these suggestions will probably be “submitted to the police commissioner.”
New York News reached out to the NYPD for remark concerning the new CCRB chair, and is awaiting a response.
The Police Benevolent Affiliation (PBA), the labor union representing the NYPD, reserved judgment on Jones Austin’s appointment, noting the frequent modifications in CCRB management over the previous three years. Representatives, nonetheless, mentioned they had been extra involved with the general “anti-police” course that they imagine the CCRB is heading.
“This is an agency that has hired investigators with publicly demonstrated anti-police bias,” PBA President Patrick Hendry mentioned. “It has colluded with anti-police activists to publicize false and unproven allegations in order to destroy police officers’ reputations. It has also consistently pushed to expand its power and erode the NYPD’s disciplinary authority.”
The PBA has been in a fierce dispute with the CCRB over unsubstantiated grievance information which were made public by freedom of data requests. The PBA contends that the information, which have been printed on web sites resembling 50.a, quantity to defamation and have induced precise hurt to uniformed officers. The tensions have made the organizations hesitant about working with CCRB management going ahead.
“We are open to working with Ms. Jones Austin to try to address these issues, but we are not going to accept empty promises,” Hendry mentioned. “There needs to be fundamental change to restore CCRB to the fairness and impartiality required by the City Charter.”
