Calls Grow to Lift Secrecy Shrouding NY Police Misconduct Records (New York Law Journal)
New York Law Journal, April 30, 2018
Calls Grow to Lift Secrecy Shrouding NY Police Misconduct Records
“The New York City Bar Association has joined a chorus of groups calling on elected officials in Albany to repeal a state law that shields records related to police misconduct, which critics say has helped fuel distrust in police. New York is one of three states with specific laws for protecting officers, but the state’s transparency watchdog, the New York State Committee on Open Government, has said New York’s law is the most secretive in the country. On Monday, the City Bar joined the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Aid Society and almost 30 other groups to support a bill to repeal Civil Rights Law 50-a, a statute enacted more than 40 years ago that was originally intended to prevent the release of unsubstantiated civilian complaints and prevent lawyers from having unfettered access to police officers’ records. ‘Really this law only serves to be a hindrance to the public trusting the officers sworn to protect them,’ said Philip Desgranges, chairman of the City Bar’s Civil Rights Committee and a senior staff attorney for the NYCLU.”
