The interim head of an independent New York City civilian police oversight board who had criticized the Police Department and had sought more investigative power and funding for the agency, resigned on Monday after being forced out by Mayor Eric Adams. Arva Rice, was asked in April to resign from the Civilian Complaint Review Board by Philip Banks III, the deputy mayor for public safety. The request came after she criticized police officials for delaying an investigation into the fatal shooting of a Bronx man by failing to turn over evidence in a timely manner. Rice, who also serves as president of the New York Urban League, has led the board since the mayor installed her in February 2022, when he called her a “champion for equity and justice,” reports the New York Times.
Rice’s resignation follows the departure of several high-profile women in the Adams administration, including the police and fire commissioners. Among her accomplishments are investigating the police response to the protests over the murder of George Floyd in 2020, during which 138 officers were found to have committed misconduct, and clearing a backlog of complaints made during the pandemic. Rice requested $15 million more in funding from the City Council than the mayor proposed in his budget this year. She also pushed for a change in state law that would allow the board more access to police body camera footage. Adams denied forcing Rice out. Christopher Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said Rice’s “forced departure” was “yet another troubling step in this administration’s campaign to undermine police accountability.” Under Adams, a former police captain who campaigned on fighting crime while protecting the rights of New Yorkers, the Police Department has increased the use of tactics such as stop-and-frisk that have led to findings of racial bias in the past. The number of complaints to the Civilian Complaint Review Board increased 50 percent in 2023 from the year before and was the highest since 2012.