N.Y. lawmakers vote to make police disciplinary records public

ALBANY, N.Y. — As mass civil unrest over police brutality against African Americans engulfs the nation, New York lawmakers took action Tuesday by voting to repeal 50-a, a state law used by police departments to shield disciplinary records.

The Democrat-led legislature approved the longstalled reform of the statute — which is routinely used to keep the public from learning about police misconduct and disciplinary actions taken against officers — in response to protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black Minnesota man who was killed when a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

“The silver lining on this incredibly dark cloud is that the sun is finally starting to shine on injustice. Maybe it’s the unmistakable, and in my opinion disputable, video evidence that we saw a live murder on TV, but it’s done something to the consciousness of America,” said bill sponsor Democratic state Sen. Jamaal Bailey in an emotional floor speech before the bill passed. “I don’t know if there could be a more meaningful piece of legislation for me and this body because it’s way more than just policy.

“There’s a time to not only correct what we thought and knew to be a flaw in the state law, but to correct misconceptions that many of us have carried for too long for things that we can never experience,” he added.

Since 1976, the statute has prevented the personnel and disciplinary records of any police officer, corrections officer or firefighter from being made public. The NYPD only started adhering to the statute in 2016, when the department abruptly stopped allowing media and the public to see the outcomes of administrative trials. The courts have repeatedly bolstered the more expansive interpretation of the law.

The law became a point of contention following the 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner at the hands of then-NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, whose disciplinary record was shielded in secrecy.

Advocates, including New Yorkers United for Justice, and legal organizations such as the Legal Aid Society and the New York Civil Liberties Union, have pushed for the repeal of 50A in the name of transparency.

“Our criminal justice system, in order to build and maintain public trust, must be transparent,” said New Yorkers United for Justice chief strategist Khalil Cumberbatch. “Even more so as it relates to law enforcement agencies — and that means accountability and public scrutiny for police.”

Former NYPD commissioner James O’Neill conceded that “the law must change” after an independent panel, comprised of two former prosecutors and a former judge, released a report last year that found “almost a complete lack of transparency and public accountability.”

“It is an attempt to level the playing field, it is an attempt to get information into the public,” said sponsor Daniel O’Donnell, a Democrat who has championed the bill for several years. “We take one step forward today on transparency. We allow people some degree of peace.”