Police Disciplinary Records Need to be Public, City Says

NEW YORK, NY — In a change of course, Mayor Bill de Blasio pushed the state legislature on Friday to amend a law which prohibits the disciplinary records of police officers from being made public. The amendment's future, however, is uncertain, in a state senate currently controlled by Republicans.

Police personnel files have been protected under Civil Rights Law Section 50-a since a ruling in 1976. The law keeps personnel records from being shared unless given express consent by the officer. The news of any disciplinary actions taken against those officers was also protected. The law has slowly been expanded to include corrections officers and firefighters.

Justice advocates, like the National Action Network, have pushed for that information to be made accessible in the event a police officer or corrections officer stands accused of a crime. With the disciplinary information made public, it would be possible to know if a police officer involved in a shooting or other crime had a previous history of professional transgressions.

The information, including transcripts from departmental hearings, would all be available online. The information had been made available to reporters in person at One Police Plaza for decades until earlier this summer when a city lawyer pointed out it was against the law.

"50-a has represented the denial of justice for forty years in New York State," Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement. "Mayor de Blasio's core principles of reform bring the law into the 21st century by posting critical disciplinary information about uniformed officers online."

De Blasio says he will "work closely with partners in state government" to draft legislation that would make the information available. Since it's a state law, de Blasio doesn't have much individual power over the issue. However, state Democrats have supported changes to the law for a couple years. The state Committee on Open Government urged lawmakers to make the personnel records public in spring 2015. Democrats were open to the changes, but Republicans were not, according to the Albany Times Union.

"Our Republican colleagues in the Senate don't feel the same way about accountability with police officers as they do with other (state employees)," Assemblywoman Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes told the Times Union last year.

Republicans, due to senators from upstate, currently hold a comfortable majority (31 to 25) over Democrats in the state senate — though that could change in next month's election.

Patch reached out to Republican State Sen. Carl Marcellino, who is in a race for his seat on Long Island, about his stance on the changes to the law. A spokesperson said they would have to get back to us.

Democratic State Sen. Daniel O'Donnell, a long-time proponent of justice reform who is expected to be re-elected next month, sponsored the bill. O'Donnell represents parts of the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights.

"If police records were accessible, it would give the public greater assurance that law enforcement is being held to the highest standards of accountability," O'Donnell said. "The legislature and the public must work together to reform this statute to improve the public’s trust in law enforcement, and to ultimately improve safety."

New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill endorsed the changes to the law in conjunction with de Blasio.

"I believe in transparency. I also believe that making information about disciplinary proceedings public will help us build trust with the community,” said NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill in a statement. "It is my hope we can work with the State legislature and the Governor on the proposed 50-a amendment."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the mayor actually got into a little bit of a back-and-forth in September over the law, with de Blasio saying they would release personnel records on the officer who killed Eric Garner if the state allowed it. Cuomo responded de Blasio was using the state law as a "scapegoat."

It was less than a week ago that the New York Civil Liberties Union filed to appeal an appellate court's ruling that the information should be kept secret. And while the result of the changes would satisfy the ACLU, they called going to the legislature "a dead end," due to Republican control.

"The problem here is not with the law, it's with the [de Blasio] Administration’s recent decision to interpret the law to withhold police records that had been public for decades," said Christopher Dunn, ACLU Associate Legal Director. "Going to the legislature is a dead end and completely unnecessary. If the Administration is serious about police accountability, it will drop this proposal and just start releasing records, as it is entitled to do and long has done.”

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the largest union of police officers in city, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Photo Credit: Tim Drivas via Flickr/Creative Commons