NYPD finally releases misconduct records

NEW YORK >> Nearly nine months after New York lawmakers, inspired by mass protests over police brutality, repealed a law that kept the discipline records of officers secret for decades, the New York Police Department on Monday began publishing some of the sealed information.

The department released partial disciplinary records dating back to 2014 in an online dashboard containing profiles of all 35,000 active police officers. Separately, officials posted redacted copies of more than 200 decisions by judges in administrative trials, going back to 2017.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea have said that releasing the records would allow the nation’s largest police department to respond to public demands for accountability and transparency by showing it has a strong disciplinary system.

But police reform advocates criticized the administration Monday for continuing to withhold information about misconduct cases that did not result in a finding or admission of guilt by the officer — the vast majority of the records — even after a federal appeals court made it clear that the city could release them.

“It is a slap in the face to every New Yorker that took to the streets and the polls demanding an end to the secrecy shrouding NYPD abuse,” said Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which has fought for the records to be released for years.

For 44 years, a section of the civil rights law known as 50-a had prevented the public from seeing most disciplinary records. But the political landscape shifted over the summer after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis ignited nationwide protests against racism and police brutality.

Within weeks, the New York state Legislature, which is controlled by Democrats, repealed 50-a over the objections of the city’s powerful police unions and their allies who had long fought to keep it in place.

The city’s Department of Correction also published a database on Monday containing hundreds of disciplinary records for jail guards dating back to 2019. The agency is expected to release more data over the coming weeks.

Police officials said the newly released files would shed light on how officials have handled a variety of accusations against officers. But it was unclear on Monday if the database actually included anything except the most serious cases.