Mayor taps Jennifer Jones Austin as CCRB chair
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Jennifer Jones Austin, a prominent New York City criminal justice expert, was tapped by Mayor Zohran Mamdani to serve as chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board. Photo via Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies
By Jacob Kaye
The mayor on Friday appointed a prominent criminal justice expert to lead the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, the NYPD’s oversight body, marking the first time in over six years that the watchdog group has had a permanent chairperson.
Jennifer Jones Austin, an attorney who currently serves as the CEO and executive director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, was tapped by Mayor Zohran Mamdani to serve as the chair of the CCRB last week.
Leading a criminal justice oversight body won’t be new to Jones Austin, who previously served as the chair of the Board of Correction, which oversees the city’s Department of Correction. She’s also served as the chair of the New York City Racial Justice Commission. In addition to her work at the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, Jones Austin also currently serves as the vice chair of Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.
“Jennifer Jones Austin has spent her career standing with New Yorkers who are too often shut out of the halls of power,” Mamdani said in a statement. “She understands that public safety and accountability go hand in hand, and that trust must be earned through action.”
Jones Austin now will take over a board whose influence and power has waxed and waned over the years. When campaigning for mayor, Mamdani vowed to strengthen the board by making it the final arbiter of whether or not police officers found to have committed misconduct should be disciplined. He has since appeared to soften on that stance, ceding final decision making power to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
The mayor said that Jones Austin would lead the CCRB “with integrity, compassion and an unwavering commitment to justice.”
Jones Austin will succeed interim Chair Sherene Crawford in leading the CCRB. Crawford will continue on as a member of the board.
“I am honored to serve as chair of the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board,” Jones Austin said in a statement. “Trust between government and the communities we serve lay at the heart of public safety. It is our responsibility as public servants to deepen trust by promoting transparency and integrity through our every action.”
“As chair, I will work to advance CCRB’s critical mission of accountability and look forward to the work ahead,” she added.
The CCRB, which was created by former Mayor David Dinkins, the city’s first Black mayor, in 1993, is charged with investigating allegations that NYPD officers used excessive force, abused their authority, used bias- or racial-based policing practices, committed sexual misconduct or made false statements.
Though the board recommends discipline when its investigations find instances of wrongdoing, the police commissioner has final say over whether an officer is hit with a punishment, which could range from loss of vacation days to termination.
Beyond the lack of authority, the CCRB has also struggled with a large case backlog and has been without a permanent chair since 2020. Taken together, advocates have said the CCRB hasn’t been able to hold the NYPD accountable.
Some of those advocates, including the Legal Aid Society, praised Jones Austin’s appointment on Friday.
“Jennifer's decades of experience advancing civil rights and social justice, coupled with her leadership across government on accountability and public safety issues, make her exceptionally well qualified to lead the CCRB at this critical moment,” Twyla Carter, the attorney-in-chief and CEO of The Legal Aid Society, said in a statement. “The CCRB is essential to ensuring that allegations of police misconduct are investigated independently and that New Yorkers have meaningful civilian oversight of the NYPD.”
“A strong, independent, and well-resourced watchdog with the authority to carry out its mandate effectively is critical to protecting the rights of New Yorkers,” she added. “We look forward to working with Chair Jones Austin to ensure the CCRB has the tools it needs to fulfill that mission.”
The appointment was also celebrated by some of the most progressive members of the City Council, including Brooklyn Councilmember Chi Ossé, who filed a complaint alleging police misconduct with the CCRB after being arrested at a protest earlier this year.
“Police accountability in this city only works if the CCRB is empowered to do its job, and that starts with strong leadership at the top,” Ossé said in a statement. “Jennifer Jones Austin has spent decades fighting for New Yorkers, our systems too often fail, and she brings both the qualifications and moral clarity this moment demands. I am proud that Mayor Mamdani and his administration are prioritizing this appointment, and I look forward to working with the incoming chair to ensure the CCRB has the independence, the resources, and the standing it needs to do its job.”
In assuming the role, Jones Austin will have to contend with the police union, which is currently suing the CCRB for publicly publishing information about sexual misconduct, racial profiling and untruthful statement allegations made against the NYPD.
The president of the Police Benevolent Association, Patrick Hendry, has claimed the CCRB has an “anti-police bias” and that it has “colluded with anti-police activists.”
In a statement to amNY on Friday, Hendry said the union was “open to working” with Jones Austin, but added that he believes there “needs to be fundamental change to restore CCRB to the fairness and impartiality required by the City Charter.”
