Outspoken CCRB Chair To Be Replaced by Hart

FRANKLIN H. STONE: Ends stormy tenure.

Franklin H. Stone, the outspoken head of the NYPD Civilian Complaint Review Board, is stepping down after more than two years as Chair, it was announced April 2.

Ms. Stone had clashed with the NYPD last July after issuing a report criticizing it for a sharp rise in cases where it declined to prosecute cops the board had found guilty of wrongdoing.

'Disappointing' Lack of Action

"When we do find misconduct, it's disappointing when the cases are not pursued," she said at the time. "If the department gave us the authority to prosecute these cases, we would be willing and able to do so." She later told the City Council at a January hearing that the NYPD was charging its officers in only 7 percent of cases in 2007, down from 47 percent in 2003.

A statement by NYPD spokesman Paul J. Browne said that the NYPD had pursued charges against 181 out of 267 officers identified by the CCRB, or 68 percent. "No police department in America devotes more personnel to internal investigations, disciplinary oversight, and prosecutions than the NYPD," he said.

Ms. Stone, a board member since 1998, was appointed the CCRB's first female chair in September 2006. After serving one two-year term, she stayed on after being asked to do so by city officials to complete ongoing projects. Rumors of discontent within the board had spread in recent months, with members often split over how to handle certain cases and Ms. Stone publicly suggesting that the agency's continued existence needed to be evaluated.

Mayor Bloomberg announced that he was appointing Ernest F. Hart, currently Associate Dean and Chief Operating Officer of the Columbia University Medical Center's affiliation agreement with Harlem Hospital Center, to replace Ms. Stone.

"Ernie Hart has ably served our city in a number of capacities in the public and private sector and we are lucky to have him serve on the CCRB," the Mayor said.

Former Aide to Deputy Mayor

Mr. Hart started his career as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney's Office and most recently served Chief of Staff and Counsel to Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott from 2002 to 2004.

The Queens resident has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School; as an executive for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and its forerunner, the Department of Personnel; the Public Employment Relations Board, and the Department of Sanitation; as Chair of the Equal Employ- ment Practices Commission, and on the Board of Collective Bargaining. He is also a trustee of the Local 1199 SEIU Pension Fund.

"I look forward to taking on this challenge and will continue to ensure that the CCRB operates with integrity and independence," Mr. Hart said in a statement.