After serving for a full decade with NYPD's Risk Management Bureau, Sgt. Cyress Smith found himself on the outs after reporting racial bias within the department. After filing a complaint that white colleagues were given superior evaluations the ranked officer, once responsible for teaching officers how to investigate internal corruption and bring underperforming cops up to par, found himself assigned to menial task like mail duty-a job typically reserved for "rookies."

Before long, he was transferred to a job where the working conditions directly violated his 9/11 related asthma restrictions. After being moved again, to a job monitoring surveillance cameras in housing projects, Smith filed a federal civil rights lawsuit.In an interview with The Daily News, the officer acknowledged that the move will likely mean an end to his 20 years of service. “My career’s over,” he said. “It’s a story of racism, inequality, and abuse.” Smith’s lawyer, Chukwuemeka Nwokoro. “It’s difficult to appreciate the level to which they’ve gone to retaliate against him…They’re basically treating him like a rookie cop.” 

Earlier in his career, Smith was among the nearly four dozen cops who settled with the city for $27 million after filing a lawsuit that minority cops were disciplined in a discriminatory way and retaliated against if they spoke out. While working with the Risk Management Bureau, Smith saw more of the same. He told his supervisors about what he saw as a double standard in how rules were applied for white officers vs. minority officers, with white cops more likely to be promoted and less likely to be disciplined, regardless of merit or circumstance. After making that report, Smith says that he saw his performance evaluations drop progressively lower and lower, making career advancement close to impossible. The NYPD has not released a statement about Smith’s allegations or his pending federal civil rights lawsuit.