The City Solicitor's office does not have readily available figures on police misconduct cases, but the City Solicitor, Charles Mansolillo told Human Rights Watch that he knows the amount of settlements paid in abuse cases is less than $1 million a year because the city is self-insured and has a $1 million budget for all claims against the city, including accidents.37 He estimated that the city pays, at most, $200,000 in police misconduct suits annually, with some of that consisting of previous years' structured settlement, with payments extended since the 1980s. The IAB investigates cases involving police officers for the City Solicitor's office. Mansolillo estimated that at least 50 percent of cases that go to juries are found in favor of city.38

Mansolillo also suggested that the reason there are not many lawsuits is because the police department makes a real effort to train and re-train. He stated that few of the sixty or so complaints filed with IAB each year end up as civil lawsuits.

37 Telephone interview, Charles Mansolillo, City Solicitor, January 28, 1997.

38 Ibid.