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NYPD Officials Orchestrated Smear Campaign of Police Critic Using Confidential Details of Her Rape, Lawsuit Alleges

www.thecity.nyc NYPD Officials Orchestrated Smear Campaign of Police Critic Using Confidential Details of Her Rape, Lawsuit Alleges

The accusations from Dana Rachlin, a prominent police reform advocate who once had open access to Brooklyn precincts, highlight a growing rift between the NYPD and criminal justice reformers.

NYPD Officials Orchestrated Smear Campaign of Police Critic Using Confidential Details of Her Rape, Lawsuit Alleges

In the lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of New York on Monday, Rachlin alleges that in mid-2020 NYPD officials cut off her access to the North Brooklyn precincts her nonprofit serves and told precinct leaders not to work with her.

Soon afterward, the lawsuit claims, confidential information about her alleged sexual assault was circulated to community advocates, mixed in with misinformation about the investigation and the notion that she fabricated the attack and falsely accused a Black man of rape.

Those same claims later surfaced in two anonymous letters sent to police officials, politicians and others, the lawsuit alleges.

One of the letters referred to Rachlin as a “wolf in Sheep’s clothing,” who deployed her “feminine charm to gain the trust of unsuspecting officers.” The other included specifics of her sexual assault, alongside inaccuracies about why her case was closed.

“Ms. Rachlin was willing to send another innocent African American man to jail for her own gain. What a disgrace!” the letter reads.

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