4 Years After Eric Garner’s Death, Secrecy Law on Police Discipline Remains Unchanged (The New York Times)
The New York Times, June 3, 2018
4 Years After Eric Garner’s Death, Secrecy Law on Police Discipline Remains Unchanged
“The legal battle over a New York City police officer’s disciplinary records after the chokehold death of Eric Garner in 2014 cast an obscure statute into the spotlight. But nearly four years after Mr. Garner’s death on July 17, 2014, on Staten Island, the statute, Section 50-a of the State Civil Rights Law, is, if anything, stronger, its interpretation expanded at the insistence of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, even as the mayor has vowed more transparency….The statute was intended to shield officers from defense lawyers looking to discredit police testimony using unverified civilian complaints. It is one of the strictest laws of its kind in the country. It shields records that states such as Washington and Alabama routinely make public. Opponents say that the secrecy the law codifies hurts police efforts to mend ties in predominantly black and Latino communities. The New York City Bar Association endorsed repealing the statute last month in a white paper describing how the statute stymies transparency. And activists under the umbrella of Communities United for Police Reform have begun descending on Albany by the busload to lobby lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle to repeal it.”
