The whistleblower says the department is "cooking the books" and making it appear crime is lower than it actually is.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly completely dismissed allegations made by the veteran Sergeant to Eyewitness News in which he claimed the 100th Precinct in Queens is routinely down-grading crime reports.
"Quality Assurance Division investigated those allegations, they were all found to be unsubstantiated," Police Commissioner Kelly said.
But Sgt. Robert Borrelli gave Quality Assurance investigators at least a dozen crime reports as proof he says of intentional downgrading of felonies to misdemeanors so as not to affect the Command's crime rate.
One example, a felony strangulation using a scarf as weapon was recorded as a misdemeanor assault. In another case, an attempted shooting of a cabbie was classified, not as a felony assault but reckless endangerment.
"But he handed 12 of those reports to Quality Assurance and four of those were indeed found by quality assurance to be misclassified, that's more than 30%?" Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter Jim Hoffer asked.
"They were found in the normal course of business, it is not an exact science. They found no wrong-doing in these ones that were not sufficiently classified," Kelly said.
"You mean mistakenly classified?" Hoffer asked.
"Yes," Kelly said.
"It's clearly not a mistake, its intentional manipulation of crime stats," said Sgt. Robert Borrelli, NYPD 100th Precinct.
Sgt. Borrelli no longer has access to crime reports.
Despite recent annual evaluations praising him for being extremely capable, for having strong leadership tendencies and for taking pride in his work, he was hit with minor disciplinary charges following an argument with an officer.
He's now been transferred from the precinct where he's been supervisor for a decade to the graveyard shift at Central Booking in the Bronx:
"Commissioner, do you know why the sergeant was transferred?" Hoffer asked.
"I've already answered your questions?" Kelly asked.
"This is a different question, do you know why he was transferred, he says it was for retaliation?" Hoffer asked.
"A normal administrative matter, that's why he was transferred," Kelly said.
Sgt. Borrelli says the transfer is punishment for blowing the whistle.
He says it's clear the Command wanted to get him away from having any access to crime reports.
The Department says a complete audit was conducted in response to the allegations and it found less than 2% of reports were misclassified.
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