For the first time in nearly a decade, more complaints have been filed about police misconduct to the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board.

During a City Council hearing Monday, acting CCRB Chairman Frederick Davie testified that the board received 4,487 complaints last year.

“It was the first time complaints increased since 2009,” he said.

Records show complaints have steadily dropped from 7,660 in 2009 to 4,285 in 2016, before the uptick in 2017.

CCRB Executive Director Jonathan Darche said the increase could be due to CCRB “doing more public outreach” in both 2016 and 2017 than in the “previous three years [2013, 2014, and 2015] combined.”

Of the complaints fielded in 2017, Darche said 2,203 were for officers using improper physical force and 41 were substantiated. He also said 911 were for cops refusing to show their shields (29 were substantiated), 724 were improper stops (66 were substantiated), and 159 were for cops making racial comments (4 were substantiated).

As access to video evidence increases, Darche said CCRB expect more cases to be decided “on the merits” rather than through testimony usually provided by officers and their accusers.