CITY OF ITHACA

108 East Green Street, Ithaca, New York 14850-5690

MAYOR’S OFFICE
SVANTE L. MYRICK, MAYOR

Telephone: 607-274-6501
Email: mayor@cityofithaca.org
Fax: 607-274-6526

The Ithaca Police Department recently identified in the IPD Investigations Division a deeply
troubling failure across nearly a decade to investigate a broad array of cases. Most heart-
breaking amongst these inadequately-investigated cases is an array of reported sex offenses; the
impacts of these investigatory failures were by definition deeply traumatic for victims who came
to the IPD seeking help and justice, and found none.

The Department has provided detailed records of this failure to both the District Attorney’s
Office and the Office of the Attorney General and will of course cooperate in any further
investigations that they may choose to pursue. The IPD is also taking appropriate action with
respect to officers involved in this failure at that time, including seeking the termination of the
officer directly responsible for these failings.

The Department also asks any members of the public to come forward in the event that you feel
your previous complaint—particularly of a sex offense—went unanswered by the IPD.

Mayor Myrick notes “I am shocked and saddened by these revelations, which can easily erode
public confidence in the IPD. I do, however, draw encouragement from the confidence that I
have in the IPD’s current leadership, including a new Chief, a new Deputy Chief for Professional
Standards, and new policies established by new leadership in the Investigations Division, under
which the IPD is proactively ensuring that a failure of this sort will never happen again.”

Key proactive steps so far taken include:

 New expectations have been disseminated to the Investigators.

 All open cases require an update every two weeks unless a Division supervisor
approves otherwise (due to vacations and/or other time off).
 The Division holds daily briefings in an effort to increase communication,
efficiency, and teamwork.
 All cases are tracked from the time they are assigned to the time that they are
closed.
 The Division has established via County IT a new module of the Spillman CAD
system for Investigations. This case management module is now the method for
tracking all investigative efforts involved with every new case assigned. It allows
for custom searches and reports and custom Excel Spreadsheets, helping to
eliminate the possibility of human error when tracking case activity.
 The Technical Sergeant has been retitled as a second Criminal Investigative
Sergeant, and now works under the Investigations Division umbrella. This
Sergeant provides for an additional layer of supervision and oversight.

"An Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to workforce diversification."

 The Division is also implementing monthly supervision meetings with each
investigator. During these meetings, the supervisor will pull a report of the open
and assigned cases and review the progress and status of each case with the
Investigator.
 The supervision team for Investigations includes a Lieutenant and two Sergeants.
The three supervisors are responsible for direct supervision of the Investigators,
as well as oversight of all department Evidence, the Body-Worn Camera Program,
warrants, the Crime Scene Unit, and the management of confidential funds and
informants.
 All investigators are now generalists to ensure equitable work distribution. This
means that Investigations no longer has single designations for the Investigators,
such as Juvenile or Sex Crimes. All Investigators assigned to the Division will
receive appropriate training and will handle all varieties of cases.

"An Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to workforce diversification."