Federal Court Temporarily Extends The NYPD's Famous Opacity, Blocks Release Of Misconduct Records

Legal Issues

from the dammit dept

The NYPD barely bothers to punish officers who misbehave. This “misbehavior” often includes violations of rights and extrajudicial killings, but it appears the NYPD feels New York’s “finest” should be above reproach. Consequently, NYPD internal investigations often conclude no officers should be reproached, allowing them to remain the “finest” even when they’re really the worst.

A new wrinkle in the law fabric might change that. After years of doing nothing (and after years of the NYPD never bothering to invoke the law), the state repealed “50a,” the statute that allowed the NYPD to withhold misconduct records from the public. For several years, the NYPD posted the outcome of internal investigations. Then it decided it was no longer going to do that. First, it blamed the high cost of printer ink. Then it cited the law that allowed it to stop posting reports where the press could access them.

Lawsuits followed. And — as is the case whenever law enforcement opacity is threatened — the NYPD’s unions have intervened. It was too little too late. An injunction was sought and obtained, but ProPublica — which wasn’t a party to the lawsuit over 50a records — published what it had already received from the NYPD. But the battle continues because future opacity is at stake. Unfortunately, a federal court has decided opacity must win out for the moment.

A federal court has halted the release of police misconduct records until a coalition of New York City’s police, fire and corrections unions can make their case to the United States Second Circuit of Appeals.

The ruling came Wednesday afternoon — just days after Manhattan Federal Judge Katherine Polk Failla ruled on a lawsuit brought by the unions over the repeal of the law shielding police personnel records known as 50a.

That’s right. The union doesn’t just want records blocked from release. It wants the law back on the books. This is all very procedural so it probably doesn’t wipe away Judge Faila’s distaste for this lawsuit. Five days prior to this temporary injunction, Faila had this to say about the union’s challenge of the repeal.

The lawsuit, brought by the coalition of unions over the repeal of 50a, argued that releasing unsubstantiated or unfounded allegations would put officers and firefighters at risk and would affect their employment prospects if they leave their department.

But Failla said the unions failed to explain why an “officer in charge of hiring would be incapable of interpreting the records” and she had been “presented with no evidence of increased violence or threat of violence.”

The disclosures plaintiffs’ argument also seems to overlook the disclosures that have historically been made,” Failla said, noting that the NYPD had previously published disciplinary records in recent years at NYPD headquarters.

“Any injunctive relief that I would order, could not put that particular horse back in the barn,” she added.

And yet this ad hoc collection of union legal cowboys is desperate to do just that. The horse cannot be re-barned but maybe enough union members’ money can be blown delaying the inevitable. This will be the trophy brought back to the rank-and-file. Money was spent in an attempt to thwart transparency. And — in the absence of any real victories — this will have to do.

Maybe in the end the courts will decide the repeal of 50a violates the many, many collective bargaining agreements the city has agreed to over the years. If so, New York City needs to let these expire and write new ones that actually give taxpayers a bit more bang for their buck. Accountability is a must. The city’s unions continue to insist it’s a luxury even the nation’s largest city can’t afford.

Filed Under: 50a, katherine polk failla, new york, nyc, nypd, police misconduct, police unions, transparency