Latest news with #JocelynStrauber
New York Post
19-05-2025
- New York Post
NYC's child services agency keeps cases secret due to state loophole, but investigators say it's time for a change
The Big Apple's beleaguered child service agency is able to keep its records secret because of a state loophole — but fed-up city investigators are now backing a bill that would force them to loosen their grip on their closely guarded books. Department of Investigation officials said they have been blocked from reviewing at least a dozen child neglect or abuse cases handled by the Administration for Children's Services since 2023 that raised 'red flags,' all because state law keeps the files sealed — regardless of the consequences for battered children. Most troubling are abuse claims deemed 'unfounded' by ACS with no explanation or scrutiny. 'If one of the unfounded rulings was flawed in some way, we have no insight into that whatsoever,' DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber told The Post. 'We need [the state Office of Children and Family Services] to get approval, so we have to tell them what it is we want and if they ask why we want them, we have to tell them. 3 New York State Social Services Law largely shields ACS from the city's Department of Investigation. William Farrington 'That is not typically how independent oversight works,' she said. 'You don't typically want the entities that you are overseeing [to have] access into what you are investigating.' The Post reported earlier this month that at least seven children died under the lax supervision of ACS caseworkers in the past year, with staffers encouraged to keep children in potentially abusive homes and offer troubled families services rather than launching investigations that could save young lives. The tragic tots were as young as one month when they met horrific ends. Cases included several kids who starved to death inside homes where ACS either returned them to their parents or were allowed to remain despite allegations of mistreatment, the report found. 3 The Post revealed on May 5 how at least 7 children died in abusive homes while unfer ACS supervision. The soft approach by ACS is based on an initiative adopted by the agency in recent years known as CARES, or Collaborative Assessment, Response, Engagement and Support. 'There's been a lot about this program called CARES,' Strauber said, 'but as of now we don't have access. This is yet another blind spot. 'We won't be able to evaluate if that program is working the way it is supposed to work,' she added. 'Obviously there are unique interests with the privacy of families, but in our view when there's a risk to children there should be transparency and oversight. 'What we are really focused on is the systemic issues. We are not looking to re-traumatize these families.' New York State Social Services Law shields ACS from outside scrutiny — even if the agency goofed by not removing a child from an abusive home or launching an investigation into the parents. DOI officials are looking for help from Albany, and are backing a bill introduced this month by state Assemblyman Andrew Hevesy (D-Queens) that looks to remove the ACS blinders. 3 New York State Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi is sponsoring a bill to increase scrutiny of the city child services agency. Hans Pennink 'Even though child fatality cases known to ACS have declined 18% within the last decade, out of an abundance of caution this bill will provide the professionals from the NYD Department of Investigation access to confidential records to assist in their investigations,' Hevesi said. The bill would allow more scrutiny of child fatalities and incidents inside juvenile detention facilities — but it has yet to find a required sponsor in the state senate. In a statement to The Post on Monday, a spokesperson for ACS said the agency 'look[s] forward to further discussions about the bill,' and addressed the DOI push for more access. 'ACS is committed to transparency, and we appreciate the important oversight role of DOI,' they said.
New York Times
06-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
This Agency Fights Corruption. New York City Leaders Have Weakened It.
In recent months, New York City's government has been rocked by corruption scandals at a pace not seen in nearly a century. Yet over the past few years, New York's leaders have presided over a gradual weakening of the city's No. 1 corruption-fighting agency, the Department of Investigation, records and interviews show. As caseloads have risen, they have stood by while dozens of positions within the department have gone unfilled, allowing the agency to lose more than a quarter of its employees over the past six years. And they have funded the department unevenly, allocating fewer dollars for salaries for investigators, auditors and other personnel in the department's current budget than it received during a high-water mark in 2019. In recent months, the agency has been so strapped for funds that it has tapped millions of dollars forfeited by people convicted of crimes to cover basic operating costs. This has occurred not because the department has failed to ask for more funding. Last fall, its commissioner, Jocelyn Strauber, sought permission from the city's Office of Management and Budget to hire 23 staff members at a cost of $1.4 million. The City Council supported the request, but the budget office rejected it. Soon after, Gale Brewer, the chairwoman of the Council's Oversight and Investigations Committee, said in a letter to city budget leaders that because of staffing issues the department had experienced significant disruptions whenever employees went on vacation. In January, the budget office said it would pay for 10 additional hires. In a statement, Ms. Strauber said that the department's 'staffing challenges' had led to delays in issuing reports and sometimes caused investigators and other workers to juggle complex inquiries. 'Over the last three years, we have asked them to take on more work and more responsibility, often for no additional compensation,' she said, 'and every time they have stepped up and have served the city admirably under very challenging conditions.' The pressures on the department have only increased under the administration of Mayor Eric Adams. Hiring constraints implemented by Mr. Adams have made it more difficult for the agency to add staffing. And corruption inquiries involving the mayor and members of his administration have contributed heavily to the increased workload. Last year, Mr. Adams became the first sitting mayor in the city's modern history to be indicted on federal corruption charges. His chief adviser was also charged in state court with taking part in a separate bribery scheme. And a close aide was charged with witness tampering and destroying evidence in the investigation into the mayor. A dozen other aides — including Mr. Adams's schools chancellor, first deputy mayor, deputy mayor for public safety and two successive police commissioners — have resigned after having their devices seized or homes searched in state or federal corruption inquiries. The Department of Investigation worked with the F.B.I. and federal prosecutors to build the case against the mayor, and it has played an important role in the other inquiries. But after Mr. Adams assiduously courted the Trump administration, the president's Justice Department took the extraordinary step of asking the judge in the mayor's case to dismiss the charges. On Wednesday, the judge, Dale E. Ho, granted the request, capping a saga that had seen federal prosecutors clash bitterly with Justice Department officials. Some of the prosecutors resigned in protest over what they described as a corrupt deal to secure Mr. Adams's cooperation with President Trump's immigration agenda. The situation has focused renewed attention on the Department of Investigation, which is also empowered to build cases against public officials in state courts. (There has been no indication that New York prosecutors might seek to file state charges against Mr. Adams.) The move to drop the Adams case has also led to calls by some New York officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, to insulate the department from potential interference by the mayor and other city officials. Under its current structure, the department's commissioner serves at the pleasure of the mayor, and at times that has created a complicated dynamic. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's commissioner was a close friend whose agency regularly briefed Mr. Giuliani on investigations and sometimes investigated news leaks and sought political intelligence. Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rose Gill Hearn became the city's longest serving investigation commissioner, with a reputation for focusing on low- and midlevel city employees and contractors. And during the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio, two successive commissioners oversaw an agency that issued a series of reports criticizing the mayor himself, including for his use of a security detail for trips during his failed presidential campaign and to move his daughter to Gracie Mansion. After clashing with his first commissioner, Mark G. Peters, Mr. de Blasio fired him, citing a report by an independent investigator that said Mr. Peters had abused his power and mistreated subordinates. Mr. Peters disputed the findings and said the mayor had forced him out to stop him from completing inquiries that might have reflected poorly on Mr. de Blasio — a claim the former mayor has denied. 'Government integrity is absolutely dependent on a robust inspector general system,' Mr. Peters said in an interview, 'and you can't have that system without sufficient staffing.' A spokeswoman for Mayor Adams, Liz Garcia, said that the department's budget was higher today than it was when he took office. 'The Adams administration remains committed to supporting the important work that the New York City Department of Investigation does to ensure accountability and transparency in government,' Ms. Garcia said. The administration has worked with the department to address retention issues and adjust the pay scale for investigators. After Mr. Adams became mayor, he selected Ms. Strauber — a former federal prosecutor with the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York — to burnish his public safety and anti-corruption credentials, according to a person familiar with his thinking at the time. Less than three years later, she stood beside Damian Williams, then the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, as the charges against Mr. Adams were announced — a move that was seen by some in his orbit as a personal slight, the person said. In February, Ms. Hochul proposed changes to the law that would bar the mayor from firing the investigation commissioner without the approval of the state inspector general. At a recent preliminary budget hearing, Ms. Strauber told City Council members that her agency had not been the target of retaliation during her tenure. 'At the same time,' she added, 'our budgetary needs do not seem to be a key priority for this administration.' Stretched Thin The Department of Investigation, formerly known as the Office of the Commissioner of Accounts, is one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the United States. It was created in 1873 after the fall of the Tammany Hall boss William M. Tweed, who had mastered the art of enriching himself with city funds. Over the years, the agency has regularly rooted out corruption schemes, fraud and abuse in the Police Department, city jails and other agencies. Under Mayor de Blasio, the agency had a staff of more than 550 investigators, lawyers, auditors and other employees. It issued a series of hard-nosed reports that exposed failures of the city's Housing Authority and a highly critical report on the Police Department's sex crimes unit. In the 2017 fiscal year alone, the agency made over 800 arrests — the highest in nearly a decade. Then Mr. Adams became mayor. His administration instituted a hiring freeze, citing the rising costs of the migrant crisis, slowing tax revenues and the ending of federal pandemic aid. When the freeze was lifted, he imposed restrictions on hiring across all city departments, requiring two employees to leave their jobs for every one hired into a vacant position. The budget constraints affected hiring citywide, and agencies have also struggled to recruit and retain employees since the coronavirus pandemic upended life in New York. But the restrictions have hit the Department of Investigation especially hard, records and interviews show. In the most recent fiscal year, the department received nearly as many corruption complaints — 14,600 — as it got when its staffing was at a high point under Mr. de Blasio. Fewer cases have been referred for criminal prosecution or civil and administrative action. Arrests are down, too, by 58 percent from 2017, according to management reports filed by the mayor's office. Department officials say that is not necessarily a reflection of staffing shortages. The department has also been hampered in its hiring because it offers lower pay compared with what investigators and lawyers might make in the private sector — or even at other public agencies. 'It was common for us to lose talented young investigators,' said Margaret M. Garnett, who served as the department's commissioner for the last three years of the de Blasio administration. 'They can go to the frauds department at American Express and triple their salary. It is hard to tell someone making $60,000 a year at 27 that they shouldn't take a job paying them $150,000 a year.' Now the department has about 70 administrative and operations employees and more than 330 investigators spread across 10 squads. More than half of the investigators are on loan from other agencies, such as the Department of Correction or the Housing Authority. It is a staffing practice that has allowed the office to take on more cases and employ investigators with firsthand knowledge of the institutions they are investigating. At times, however, the arrangement has presented problems. In 2023, The New York Times found that at least two investigators on loan from the Correction Department had been tasked with rooting out sick-leave fraud while abusing sick-leave policies themselves. Limited room for upward mobility has also made hiring and retaining qualified people a challenge, current and former officials have said. When Ms. Garnett led the office under the de Blasio administration, she wanted to address the agency's staffing issues in part by hiring retired city police detectives, she said. But state laws restrict such practices, in order to keep city employees from drawing a pension while also earning a city salary. Agencies who want to hire city retirees have to obtain a waiver from the Civil Service Commission, and even then there are constraints on how much the retired employee can earn. The waivers are approved for two years at a time and granted only to fill vacancies temporarily and under certain conditions. Ms. Garnett said the Department of Investigation would likely benefit from bringing on retired detectives with practical experience investigating crimes to fill some of the agency's positions. Instead, she said, it has often been forced to bring on candidates with no experience at all.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Investigation finds mocking tweets from NYPD brass violated policy
NEW YORK — The City's Department of Investigation found top police officials violated the NYPD's social media policy when they penned posts attacking journalists, a judge and an elected official. 'New York City deserves public officials who use social media responsibly, to communicate accurate information and to prompt respectful dialogue on issues of importance to the community, and not as a means to ridicule those with whom they disagree,' DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said in a statement. 'No aspect of the social media exchanges that DOI reviewed in this investigation served the public.' DOI's inspector general for the NYPD examined social media posts made on X through August by now-Chief of Department John Chell, Deputy Commissioner for Operations Kaz Daughtry and the NYPD's general X account. The probe, which was launched after a complaint from City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, outlined several instances of problematic behavior. In February, Chell wrote that a Supreme court judge 'set free a predator back into the community, who may be on your next train, or walking the streets of our city.' DOI noted that Chell — in addition to naming the wrong judge — potentially put the jurist in harm's way with his rhetoric. A reply to Chell's tweet read: 'This is sickening. I wonder where the judge resides.' Chell also engaged in a heated back and forth with an attorney who grilled New York City Mayor Eric Adams on an episode of The Breakfast Club, a widely syndicated radio program, at one point challenging her to meet him on Long Island for the funeral of a fallen NYPD officer. He also repeatedly mocked a Daily News columnist for printing an incorrect homicide statistic in a piece critical of the NYPD's subway safety efforts before correcting the error. At one point, the NYPD X account coined a Trumpian nickname for the scribe, calling him 'Harry 'Deceitful' Siegel.' 'The problem is that besides your flawed reporting is the fact that now we are calling you and your 'latte' friends out on their garbage,' Chell wrote. The high-ranking police officer also appeared to encourage voters to go against a left-leaning member of the City Council who was critical of the way the administration policed protests of the Israel-Gaza war at New York City Universities. The report found the NYPD's social media policy was out of sync with citywide policy and that individual members like Chell and Daughtry strayed from the oversight of the department's press shop. The investigation did not, however, reach a conclusion on whether the posts constituted prohibited political activity. 'We appreciate DOI's comprehensive report,' the police department said in a statement. 'As the report notes, the NYPD has already made significant changes to its social media practices. We look forward to reviewing the report and recommendations.' While DOI noted the problematic posts subsided after the start of the probe, investigators also wrote the mayor expressed support for Chell's conduct. Not only did the mayor suggest publicly that the conduct of council members and others also be taken into account during any investigation, he explicitly said the NYPD has a right to their own opinions. DOI's inspector general for the NYPD, Jeanene Barrett, did not agree with how those opinions were expressed. 'It is inappropriate for NYPD to use its platform to target and demean journalists, elected officials, and other members of the public,' Barrett said in a statement. 'The measures NYPD has taken to improve oversight and depersonalize interactions reflect steps in the right direction; however, consistent oversight is key.'
Politico
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Investigation finds mocking tweets from NYPD brass violated policy
NEW YORK — The City's Department of Investigation found top police officials violated the NYPD's social media policy when they penned posts attacking journalists, a judge and an elected official. 'New York City deserves public officials who use social media responsibly, to communicate accurate information and to prompt respectful dialogue on issues of importance to the community, and not as a means to ridicule those with whom they disagree,' DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said in a statement. 'No aspect of the social media exchanges that DOI reviewed in this investigation served the public.' DOI's inspector general for the NYPD examined social media posts made on X through August by now-Chief of Department John Chell, Deputy Commissioner for Operations Kaz Daughtry and the NYPD's general X account. The probe, which was launched after a complaint from City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, outlined several instances of problematic behavior. In February, Chell wrote that a Supreme court judge 'set free a predator back into the community, who may be on your next train, or walking the streets of our city.' DOI noted that Chell — in addition to naming the wrong judge — potentially put the jurist in harm's way with his rhetoric. A reply to Chell's tweet read: 'This is sickening. I wonder where the judge resides.' Chell also engaged in a heated back and forth with an attorney who grilled New York City Mayor Eric Adams on an episode of The Breakfast Club, a widely syndicated radio program, at one point challenging her to meet him on Long Island for the funeral of a fallen NYPD officer. He also repeatedly mocked a Daily News columnist for printing an incorrect homicide statistic in a piece critical of the NYPD's subway safety efforts before correcting the error. At one point, the NYPD X account coined a Trumpian nickname for the scribe, calling him 'Harry 'Deceitful' Siegel.' 'The problem is that besides your flawed reporting is the fact that now we are calling you and your 'latte' friends out on their garbage,' Chell wrote. The high-ranking police officer also appeared to encourage voters to go against a left-leaning member of the City Council who was critical of the way the administration policed protests of the Israel-Gaza war at New York City Universities. The report found the NYPD's social media policy was out of sync with citywide policy and that individual members like Chell and Daughtry strayed from the oversight of the department's press shop. The investigation did not, however, reach a conclusion on whether the posts constituted prohibited political activity. 'We appreciate DOI's comprehensive report,' the police department said in a statement. 'As the report notes, the NYPD has already made significant changes to its social media practices. We look forward to reviewing the report and recommendations.' While DOI noted the problematic posts subsided after the start of the probe, investigators also wrote the mayor expressed support for Chell's conduct. Not only did the mayor suggest publicly that the conduct of council members and others also be taken into account during any investigation, he explicitly said the NYPD has a right to their own opinions. DOI's inspector general for the NYPD, Jeanene Barrett, did not agree with how those opinions were expressed. 'It is inappropriate for NYPD to use its platform to target and demean journalists, elected officials, and other members of the public,' Barrett said in a statement. 'The measures NYPD has taken to improve oversight and depersonalize interactions reflect steps in the right direction; however, consistent oversight is key.'
