Lawyers: End secrecy over cop discipline

THE CITY’S Bar Association is calling on lawmakers to repeal a decades-old statute shielding police disciplinary records from the public.

The city’s broad interpretation of the law, a 1976 civil rights provision known as 50-a, “fuels the mistrust between communities and the NYPD officers pledged to protect them,” reads a report issued by the City Bar Association on Monday.

“How can it be that those public employees having the most power and authority over peoples’ lives are the least accountable?” asked Bob Freeman of the New York State Committee on Open Government.

His is one of 32 civil rights and police reform organizations who are also calling on the law’s repeal.

“No other state in the country hides police misconduct from the public like New York,” said Phil Desgranges, who chairs the bar association’s civil rights committee.

“The Legislature should repeal (50-a) so New York can catch up to other states that prioritize accountability and public trust over secrecy.”

The Daily News highlighted the secrecy of the NYPD disciplinary process in a series of articles in early March.

The NYPD did an about-face last month and planned to release online summaries of disciplinary proceedings with the officers’ names redacted.

But a judge temporarily blocked their release after a lawsuit from the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.