Arva Rice, interim chairwoman of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, has announced her resignation following a request from Mayor Eric Adams. Rice, who was appointed by Adams in February 2022, has been a vocal critic of the Police Department, particularly in regards to delays in evidence turnover and seeking more power to investigate complaints against officers. The resignation request came from Adams’s deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks III, a former top police officer who resigned in 2014 under a federal corruption investigation but was never charged. Rice, also president and CEO of the New York Urban League, is expected to comply with the request in the coming weeks.
One of the main issues Rice has criticized the Police Department for is the delayed evidence turnover in the fatal shooting of Kawasaki Trawick in 2019. After officers claimed Trawick charged at them with a knife, Bronx district attorney Darcel D. Clark declined to file charges against the officers in 2020. Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban recently ruled that the officers acted properly and would not face punishment. Rice’s assessment of the situation found that officers had improperly entered Trawick’s home, used excessive force, and failed to aid him after the shooting, but the board’s investigation exceeded its statute of limitations due to the delayed evidence.
Over the past two years, Rice has also pushed for more funding for the oversight panel. In budget testimony before the City Council, she requested $13 million more than the previous year and $15 million above what the administration had proposed. She also advocated for changes to a state law that prevented the board from accessing sealed body camera footage and other police records in certain cases. Former mayoral candidate Maya Wiley expressed concern over Rice’s removal, suggesting that it signals a prioritization of protecting the Police Department over accountability and independent oversight.
The forced departure of Rice is part of a pattern of high-ranking Black women leaving the administration in the past several months under Mayor Adams. Keechant Sewell, the first woman to lead the Police Department, resigned abruptly in June amid reports of feeling micromanaged by the mayor and his team, including Deputy Mayor Banks. Additionally, Mayor Adams’s reported plan to replace Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix, the corporation counsel, with Randy Mastro is facing opposition from the City Council due to Mastro’s client roster. Critics have pointed out the lack of diversity in the administration following the departure of these women and the hiring of Mastro, who served as chief of staff and deputy mayor to former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Christopher Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union noted that Rice’s open criticism of the Police Department, particularly in the Trawick case, is uncommon for a C.C.R.B chair, especially an interim one. Mayor Adams, who was elected partly on the promise of being tough on crime while protecting public rights due to his background as a former police officer and victim of police abuse, faces scrutiny over the treatment of Rice and other Black women in his administration. The circumstances surrounding Rice’s resignation raise questions about the balance between law enforcement accountability and the protection of police interests in the oversight of the Police Department.
