Hundreds of thousands of police misconduct records could be made available to the public despite legal pushback from prominent law enforcement unions in the Empire State, a federal court in New York on Tuesday ruled.
A three-judge panel made the determination after Hank Sheinkopf, who represents several police unions, sued the state to block the release of the documents. Historically, officer disciplinary records were shielded from the public eye under a state civil rights law called 50-a, but following the death of George Floyd, politicians tossed away the provision in June 2020 due to heightened calls for law enforcement accountability.
The release of the documents would put officers in danger and might compromise future employment prospects, union bosses argued, but the federal appeals court disagreed.
“We fully and unequivocally respect the dangers and risks police officers face every day,” the panel said. “But we cannot say that the District Court abused its discretion when it determined that the unions have not sufficiently demonstrated that those dangers and risks are likely to increase because of the city’s planned disclosures.”
The three judges added that “the unions have pointed to no evidence from any jurisdiction that the availability of such records resulted in harm to employment opportunities.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared to praise the court verdict on Tuesday.
“For the past seven years, we’ve fundamentally changed how we police our city, strengthening the bonds between communities and the officers who serve them,” he said. “Now, we can go even further to restore accountability and trust to the disciplinary process. Good riddance to 50-a.”
About 323,000 allegations of malfeasance were levied against New York City Police Department personnel over roughly the past 40 years. Nearly 82,000 officers were named in the information dump obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of New York through Freedom of Information Act requests following the repeal of 50-a.
Sheinkopf and his team are reportedly looking to appeal the verdict and pursue other options to continue their battle against the state and advocacy groups.
“Today’s ruling does not end our fight to protect members’ safety and due process rights. The FOIL law provides exemptions that allow public employers to protect employees’ safety and privacy,” he said.
