State poised to lift veil on police discipline files

ALBANY, N.Y. » New York lawmakers on Monday were poised to overhaul a decades-old law that has kept police officers’ disciplinary records secret.

The state law, known by its section title, 50-a, was passed in the 1970s to prevent criminal defense attorneys from subjecting officers to harassing crossexaminations about irrelevant information in their personnel file.

But over the years, the law has draped a veil over most records of police misconduct, including allegations. Formal complaints about excessive force by officers are not public in New York. In recent years, police departments have cited the law in refusing to say even whether officers have been punished.

The Democrat-led state Legislature planned to pass the repeal as part of several bills that also would ban officers from subduing people with chokeholds and enshrine in state law an executive order giving the attorney general the power to investigate certain types of police misconduct.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that he intended to sign the bills, arguing that police officers deserve the same level of scrutiny as other government employees. The legislation was expected to easily pass in the largely Democratic Legislature, despite opposition from police unions.

Making police officers’ records more transparent has gained momentum amid huge protests in New York over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, and images of violent confrontations between officers and demonstrators.