---
title: A Police Work Partnership
description: Victor Suthammanont reflects on meeting Sharon McCarthy as part of an independent committee tasked with reviewing the NYPD’s CompStat audit program.
image: https://kostelanetz.com/hubfs/NYPD%20police%20car%20x5.png
---

# A Police Work Partnership

- ![NYPD police car x5](https://kostelanetz.com/hs-fs/hubfs/NYPD%20police%20car%20x5.png?width=800&height=400&name=NYPD%20police%20car%20x5.png)
  
   Hover message

*A reflection by** *[*Victor Suthammanont*](https://kostelanetz.com/our-people/victor-suthammanont)

As someone who was interested in tax law during law school, I first heard of Kostelanetz LLP because of its tax controversy work. But my first opportunity to work with the firm began in 2011 with [Sharon L. McCarthy](https://kostelanetz.com/our-people/sharon-l-mccarthy) on a matter involving the New York Police Department. At the time, reporters and others were questioning the accuracy of the NYPD’s crime-reporting statistics, collected through its CompStat program, which had shown year-over-year declines for over two decades, particularly in light of then-recent reports of downgrading and suppression of crime reports.

I was an associate at another firm working on various white-collar matters with David N. Kelley, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He, Sharon, and Robert Morvillo (who sadly passed while we were working on the project) were appointed by then-Commissioner Raymond Kelly as an independent committee tasked with reviewing the NYPD’s CompStat audit program to ensure that it was sufficient to ensure the accuracy of the NYPD’s reported crime statistics. The Committee worked pro bono on the matter.

Although at a different firm at the time, as the primary associate on the matter, I worked closely with Sharon on every aspect of the Committee’s work—from meetings with NYPD leadership, document collection and analysis, precinct-level interviews, and drafting the [Committee’s report](https://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/public_information/crime_reporting_review_committee_final_report_2013.pdf). My favorite memories of the work we did were accompanying Sharon on precinct visits in Manhattan and Brooklyn and interviewing various NYPD officers and employees. In one notable moment, referenced in the report, a precinct officer stopped Sharon and me in a precinct stairwell to relay his concerns that there was pressure to treat crime classifications differently depending on what the data was, including to upgrade crimes (for reporting purposes) so that a commander would not be “a victim of his own success.”

Not only did I learn a tremendous amount from Sharon, but she impressed me with her skill, intellect, dedication to public service, and kindness. It was a privilege to be able to join her a decade later as one of her partners here at Kostelanetz.

## Celebrating 80 Years

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