NEW YORK, NY December 11, 2006 —The semi-annual report from the City's Civilian Complaint Review Board shows that complaints of police misconduct involving African Americans is on the rise. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

In 2OO5 the CCRB found that African Americans accounted for 57 percent of cases involving documented police misconduct yet they represent 23 percent of the city's population.

In the last four years, reports of white victims of police misconduct have dropped almost 10 percentage points to just under 12 percent last year. Complaints among African Americans have gone up in the same period.In the aftermath of the Sean Bell shooting, the NYPD's critics will most likely use these numbers to charge the department with racial profiling.

But of the thousands of complaints lodged against police in 2005, only one in ten is found to have merit...Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says his department does not use racial profiles and is the most diverse in the city's history. For WNYC I am Bob Hennelly.