A federal judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York has approved a settlement in a long-running racial discrimination lawsuit brought by Milbank LLP and LatinoJustice PRLDEF on behalf of 21 Latinos living and working in Suffolk County, Long Island alleging that the Suffolk County Police Department allowed officers to repeatedly stop, harass and even rob Latino people living and working in the county.
Under the settlement, initially reached in March and approved the same month by the Suffolk County Legislature, the SCPD will establish precinct-level advisory boards and work with a third-party provider to update its implicit bias training. The SCPD also has agreed to improve its traffic stop data collection and make it publicly available and open to third-party analysis.
The settlement to be implemented over three years also requires the SCPD to provide appropriate training on traffic and pedestrian stops, improve Spanish-language accessibility, and implement a civilian oversight review process. The agreement also requires the department to investigate all officer job applicants for ties to white supremacist organizations. Further, the county defendants agreed to pay $2.25 million in attorneys’ fees.
“This settlement is built on transparency, accountability, oversight and community engagement – structural changes that will restore trust between community members and those responsible for protecting them,” Milbank partner Atara Miller said. “Milbank and LatinoJustice will make sure Suffolk County keeps its commitment to fair and equitable policing. We are optimistic that the 25 promises and changes that the County has committed to in this settlement will create the structure necessary to mitigate, identify and address discriminatory policing of Latinos in Suffolk County, and that the broken trust between the community and the people charged with protecting it can begin to be rebuilt.”
Milbank and LatinoJustice filed suit in 2015 on behalf of 21 Latino plaintiffs against Suffolk County, the SCPD and various supervisors and officers, asserting claims of widespread, systematic discriminatory policing. Just a year earlier, the county entered into an agreement with the US Department of Justice to reform its policing practices and prevent discrimination against Latino residents. Despite being on notice from the DOJ, the SCPD continued to target Latino motorists and pedestrians in stops, frisks, detentions and searches, among other discriminatory and unconstitutional practices and policies.
“Getting this settlement in place brings us one step closer to ensuring that Latinos in Long Island and in Suffolk County are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve,” said Lourdes M. Rosado, President and General Counsel of LatinoJustice PRLDEF. “This community has experienced abhorrent treatment by the same authorities who have taken an oath to protect them. Our Latino community in Suffolk County has endured enough. LatinoJustice vows to continue working to expand protections to shield our communities from discrimination, hostility, threats, violence and racial discrimination.”
The Milbank pro bono team was led by Ms. Miller and includes, among others, Scott A. Edelman, Katherine Kelly Fell, Mark Villaverde, Alex Cogut, Phil Gasperetti, Bradley Hershon, Samantha Lovin, Lacey Reimer and Morgan Williams. The LatinoJustice team includes José Luis Pérez, Ghita Schwarz, Andrew Case, Norma Esquivel and Meena Oberlick, among others.
Milbank has worked closely with a diverse array of organizations as part of its longstanding commitment to pro bono work. Milbank is ranked 17th in The American Lawyer’s 2023 Pro Bono Scorecard. The firm also is ranked 10th for breadth of commitment, based on the percentage of lawyers with more than 20 hours of pro bono service.
