In two unanimous decisions on February 20, New York State’s highest court ruled that in response to public records requests, police departments must release police officers’ full disciplinary records, including records of “unsubstantiated” complaints and incidents that occurred before the law shielding such records from public review was repealed in 2020.

In a statement, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) called the rulings “a major victory against secrecy and for police transparency.”  “Now police departments are out of excuses,” the NYCLU said.  “They must disclose complaints of officers abusing New Yorkers.”

In 1976, the state legislature adopted Section 50-a of the Civil Rights law, permitting police departments to hide “personnel records used to evaluate performance toward continued employment or promotion.”  The exemption was intended to prevent criminal defense lawyers from using such records in cross-examining police witnesses in criminal trials.  But over the years, according to a 2014 report by the State Committee on Open Government, courts expanded this narrow exemption to allow police departments to conceal “virtually any record that contains any information that could conceivably be used to evaluate the performance of a police officer.”

In 2020, following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the state legislature repealed Section 50-a, finding that the exemption had defeated the goals of accountability and transparency of the state’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).  But state police departments immediately began to resist the efforts of advocacy groups to obtain police disciplinary records, arguing that the repeal of 50-a did not apply to unsubstantiated and open citizen complaints or to records from before 2020.

After the New York City police department (NYPD) ignored FOIL requests from a New York Post reporter for a year, the Post sued for production of the records.  The Police Benevolent Association (PBA) joined the suit arguing that the repeal of 50-a should not apply to cases from before 2020.  The Post won in two lower courts, and the PBA appealed to the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.

In a related case, the NYCLU sued the Rochester Police Department for concealing records of cases in which the department did not “substantiate” the complaint or impose discipline.

In both cases, the Court of Appeals ruled 7-0 against the police, finding that the repeal of 50-a did not exclude cases from before 2020 or reports of “unsubstantiated” complaints.

“With these records in hand,” the NYCLU said, “we will now be able to have informed public conversations about police accountability and identify the reforms that are needed when it’s failing.”

New RoAR News has submitted FOIL requests to the New Rochelle Police Department for the full police disciplinary records of Police Officer Alec McKenna, who shot and killed Kamal Flowers in June 2020; Detective Steven Conn, who shot and killed Jarrel Garris in July 2023; and Lieutenant Sean Kane, who was suspended in June 2024 after video emerged showing him planting evidence to support false drug charges. We will report on the outcome of these requests.

Individuals or organizations that wish to file FOIL requests with the NRPD can do so using a form on the NRPD website or by calling 914-654-2205.