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EXCLUSIVE: New lawsuit to challenge 2015 NYPD lieutenants' exam
BY STEPHEN REX BROWN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, May 16, 2016, 4:00 AM
Eight NYPD sergeants who alleged widespread cheating on the 2015 lieutenants' exam will file a new lawsuit Monday challenging questions on the test, potentially throwing coveted promotions into limbo yet again.
Documents to be filed in Manhattan Supreme Court say that the city misled test-takers about what topics would be on the exam.
Six questions on the high-stakes test pertained to the NYPD's Operations Orders, Crime Complaint Reporting System Reference Guide and interim orders after Jan. 18, 2015 three subjects that were not listed on an official notice of examination, the suit charges.
The failure to properly notify test-takers warrants restoring a freeze on promotions until a judge determines whether vacating all of the test results is needed, papers.
The suit also repeats allegations of widespread cheating on makeup exams administered months after the initial test was given.
Is the city going to enforce its own civil service regulations or are they going to reward dishonesty? said attorney Debra Cohen, who is representing the plaintiffs.
One of her clients, Sgt. Jonathan Blatt, alleges that the test lacked adequate supervision and that he overheard test-takers "whispering" in a bathroom, apparently about the ongoing exam.
Earlier this month, a judge dismissed cheating claims brought by the sergeants in Manhattan Federal Court, ruling their suit had no merit because they hadn't passed the test in the first place.
City to promote sergeants who passed NYPD exam marred by cheating
The NYPD then said it would proceed with promotions of around 40 sergeants as it and the Department of Investigation conduct separate inquires related to the 2015 test. The federal suit has been withdrawn.
The new suit more directly challenges the way the test was administered. Many of the plaintiffs say they got some of the allegedly improper questions wrong and would have otherwise scored a passing grade of 70.
In the event the Court strikes certain subjects from the exam, the entire exam will have to be re-graded, the papers read.
Cohen and attorney Randolph McLaughlin, of Newman Ferrara, could argue for the freeze as soon as Monday. It was unclear when a judge would rule on the request.
A federal court said there was no basis to stop these promotions and we believe that to be the case now, with this proceeding in state court, a Law Department spokesman said.
This may be the type of suit they should have filed from the beginning. However they wasted time with a civil rights law suit and missed the filing deadline on this. A similar suit was filed vs the 2011 Lt exam. Which was dismissed in less than a month, and they didn't miss the filing deadline.
-- Edited by Devil Dog on Monday 16th of May 2016 12:55:05 PM
This may be the type of suit they should have filed from the beginning. However they wasted time with a civil rights law suit and missed the filing deadline on this. A similar suit was filed vs the 2011 Lt exam. Which was dismissed in less than a month, and they didn't miss the filing deadline.
-- Edited by Devil Dog on Monday 16th of May 2016 12:55:05 PM
^^ exactly. This is what you guys should have argued in the begining. Legitimate gripes, instead of making up bs about whispers and ice cream trucks. I would have supported you, including financially. However it seems now it's alittle too late.
I took the test and I failed like the majority of you and I would like to commend those of you who went to the newspapers and even those that have filed this lawsuit because you prevented the department from just sweeping this horrible test under the rug. We all have to admit that this was a bad test. I do sympathize with those of you who legitimately passed because your promotions have been delayed, however I think that many of you are directing your anger at the wrong people. We all need to be angry at the people who faked illnesses and sabbath observance in order to cheat and get extra time to study. We also should be directing more anger at the NYPD and DCAS because they should have addressed this issue long before the complaints hit the newspapers and the lawsuit was filed. It took them what.... year to come out with a list, with no throwouts. What were they doing all of that time? Why werent these scammers investigated during that time? They are the ones who have caused this test to be delayed. These people do not deserve to be promoted but it seems like the dept has no real interest in punishing them. I am not an attorney but I think that they should really address the time allotted to complete this exam. I am a good test taker and I did not even finish. I do not believe that the time given to complete this exam was legit. That inbox alone took hours. Why hasn't anyone been talking about that?
-- Edited by BossLady on Monday 16th of May 2016 02:39:51 PM
"The failure to properly notify test-takers warrants restoring a freeze on promotions until a judge determines whether vacating all of the test results is needed, papers argue."
The plaintiffs are still talking about tossing the list, never in my career have I witnessed a more vile example of selfish recklessness. Everyone can see what they're doing, their lawyer is using his connections at the Daily News to circulate these lies and half-truths because their attitude is essentially "If I can't be on the list, nobody can." A federal judge already said they are harming other sergeants who legitimately passed the exam without cheating, but now they're going to shop around in the hopes of finding a judge that will buy into their obvious lies.
Hopefully the Supreme Court clearly sees they are simply doing whatever they can to get an undeserved promotion and the judge won't even hear the case. This is nonsense, the progression of these flawed Daily News articles from "People cheated" to "Throw out these six questions so our lawyer friend's clients can get promoted" is blatant. They could have at least been more discrete about it.
I took the test and I failed like the majority of you and I would like to commend those of you who went to the newspapers and even those that have filed this lawsuit because you prevented the department from just sweeping this horrible test under the rug. We all have to admit that this was a bad test. I do sympathize with those of you who legitimately passed because your promotions have been delayed, however I think that many of you are directing your anger at the wrong people. We all need to be angry at the people who faked illnesses and sabbath observance in order to cheat and get extra time to study. We also should be directing more anger at the NYPD and DCAS because they should have addressed this issue long before the complaints hit the newspapers and the lawsuit was filed. It took them what.... year to come out with a list, with no throwouts. What were they doing all of that time? Why werent these scammers investigated during that time? They are the ones who have caused this test to be delayed. These people do not deserve to be promoted but it seems like the dept has no real interest in punishing them. I am not an attorney but I think that they should really address the time allotted to complete this exam. I am a good test taker and I did not even finish. I do not believe that the time given to complete this exam was legit. That inbox alone took hours. Why hasn't anyone been talking about that?
-- Edited by BossLady on Monday 16th of May 2016 02:39:51 PM
ur a day late and a dollar short. It was discussed here at length.
I took the test and I failed like the majority of you and I would like to commend those of you who went to the newspapers and even those that have filed this lawsuit because you prevented the department from just sweeping this horrible test under the rug. We all have to admit that this was a bad test. I do sympathize with those of you who legitimately passed because your promotions have been delayed, however I think that many of you are directing your anger at the wrong people. We all need to be angry at the people who faked illnesses and sabbath observance in order to cheat and get extra time to study. We also should be directing more anger at the NYPD and DCAS because they should have addressed this issue long before the complaints hit the newspapers and the lawsuit was filed. It took them what.... year to come out with a list, with no throwouts. What were they doing all of that time? Why werent these scammers investigated during that time? They are the ones who have caused this test to be delayed. These people do not deserve to be promoted but it seems like the dept has no real interest in punishing them. I am not an attorney but I think that they should really address the time allotted to complete this exam. I am a good test taker and I did not even finish. I do not believe that the time given to complete this exam was legit. That inbox alone took hours. Why hasn't anyone been talking about that?
-- Edited by BossLady on Monday 16th of May 2016 02:39:51 PM
Some people are under investigation and won't be promoted. Others have no evidence of cheating against them and they will be promoted. Pretty simple.
I completed the exam, on April 18th, in about four and half hours and had two hours to go over each question. Not saying it wasn't an extremely difficult exam, it was, but there was enough time to complete it.
On a side note I'm glad the article at least put "whispering" in quotation marks as to say "Really? Come on guy."
"The failure to properly notify test-takers warrants restoring a freeze on promotions until a judge determines whether vacating all of the test results is needed, papers argue."
The plaintiffs are still talking about tossing the list, never in my career have I witnessed a more vile example of selfish recklessness. Everyone can see what they're doing, their lawyer is using his connections at the Daily News to circulate these lies and half-truths because their attitude is essentially "If I can't be on the list, nobody can." A federal judge already said they are harming other sergeants who legitimately passed the exam without cheating, but now they're going to shop around in the hopes of finding a judge that will buy into their obvious lies.
Hopefully the Supreme Court clearly sees they are simply doing whatever they can to get an undeserved promotion and the judge won't even hear the case. This is nonsense, the progression of these flawed Daily News articles from "People cheated" to "Throw out these six questions so our lawyer friend's clients can get promoted" is blatant. They could have at least been more discrete about it.
this is all true. They are desperate to get on the list, even after the PC and a federal judge told em it's not happening. This too will be tossed out much sooner than later
Very happy for you sixmonthwonder, unfortunately the majority of us took much longer to complete it. My school was full when the last bell signaled the end of the exam. Therefore, you sadly do not speak for the majority of us. Again, if you legitimately passed the exam...congratulations to you! I would just like to see the cheaters punished and I would like to see the department make sure that this does not happen again. Hopefully, they will go through with the changes Bratton has proposed so far. Otherwise, everyone will be taking the makeup exam next time because there will be no incentive not to.
Very happy for you sixmonthwonder, unfortunately the majority of us took much longer to complete it. My school was full when the last bell signaled the end of the exam. Therefore, you sadly do not speak for the majority of us. Again, if you legitimately passed the exam...congratulations to you! I would just like to see the cheaters punished and I would like to see the department make sure that this does not happen again. Hopefully, they will go through with the changes Bratton has proposed so far. Otherwise, everyone will be taking the makeup exam next time because there will be no incentive not to.
Again, ur kinda late to the game. Bratton has already laid out his game plan. The changes and punishments were necessary. But complaining about the exam is like beating a dead horse. The last two Lt exams have been nightmares. Don't expect any different next go round. Even if they give a ground ball exam, the list will be cut and people who didn't score well enough will file suit over not getting made.
-- Edited by Devil Dog on Monday 16th of May 2016 04:33:30 PM
Very happy for you sixmonthwonder, unfortunately the majority of us took much longer to complete it. My school was full when the last bell signaled the end of the exam. Therefore, you sadly do not speak for the majority of us. Again, if you legitimately passed the exam...congratulations to you! I would just like to see the cheaters punished and I would like to see the department make sure that this does not happen again. Hopefully, they will go through with the changes Bratton has proposed so far. Otherwise, everyone will be taking the makeup exam next time because there will be no incentive not to.
You say I don't speak for the majority, you're right; I speak for the people who passed legitimately and deserve to be promoted. Even on the 2011 Sergeant Exam, arguably the most fair sergeant test in modern history, the passing rate was about 25%. The people who pass are never the majority, it's very hard to pass these exams.
Anyway, thank you for the congratulations, but because of these despicable excuses for sergeants who will stop at nothing to weasel their way into a promotion this entire situation has been a nightmare. If they would have gone after these six questions to begin with without making false accusations against original test day passers I would be wishing them the best of luck. As it stands now I hope none of them ever get promoted, I've never seen such a display of self-serving villainy.
They aren't going to be promoted and this State lawsuit is going to be trashed probably quicker than the Federal one. There was a lawsuit challenging the subjective nature of the questions on the 2011 LT exam and it used the same argument; it wound up in the trash. They're grasping at straws you can smell the desparation of the slimy 9. Once the State courts throws this out as the Federal court did then there will be nothing left for them. It's all gonna be over soon.
you would think one of these thick skulled judges would be able to identify issues with at the very least the question which provided a correct answer from after the cut off date. Sadly I dont think the judges care enough and I still think the new lawsuit needs to be focused more. Enough with the test day cheating, enough with the cheating all together.... Okay they tried to bring a lawsuit in regards to that it didnt work. Now focus the lawsuit on the one thing that can get you on the list, the bs TVB and the questions that were obviously wrong....
-- Edited by Sarge on Tuesday 17th of May 2016 05:39:14 AM
you would think one of these thick skulled judges would be able to identify issues with at the very least the question which provided a correct answer from after the cut off date. Sadly I dont think the judges care enough and I still think the new lawsuit needs to be focused more. Enough with the test day cheating, enough with the cheating all together.... Okay they tried to bring a lawsuit in regards to that it didnt work. Now focus the lawsuit on the one thing that can get you on the list, the bs TVB and the questions that were obviously wrong....
-- Edited by Sarge on Tuesday 17th of May 2016 05:39:14 AM
Yes, but when the plaintiffs combined false allegations of test day cheating with their criticism of the TVB it made the whole case look idiotic. Add that to their lawyer feeding his Daily News connections line-by-line stories echoing these lies and it just further perpetuates their incredibility. Anyone who came close and needs a point or two I wish you luck, but these guys definitely went about it the wrong way. I realize they are just trying to get an injunction granted because it gives them leverage, but they already failed once in federal court and it's a jerk move that completely taints their case. "There may have been some cheating on the makeup exam so let us get promoted because there were bad questions. Also anyone who passed without cheating should have their promotions jeopardized because we say so." They are entirely separate issues.
-- Edited by sixmonthwonder on Tuesday 17th of May 2016 05:58:10 AM
