New York police disciplinary records can be made public, federal judge says
NEW YORK — A federal judge ruled Friday to lift a temporary restraining order that blocked the release of disciplinary records of New York City police officers, one day after hundreds of thousands of such complaints dating back to the 1980s were published online.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla's ruling would clear the way for the release of officers' disciplinary records by the city's independent watchdog agency, police department and other entities — even if the officers were cleared of wrongdoing — which unions representing New York's police officers and other public safety officials fought.
On Thursday, the New York Civil Liberties Union published the records of more than 320,000 complaints filed with the city's independent police watchdog, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, dating back to before 1985. The NYCLU obtained the records after a state law that shielded them had been repealed, but a judge initially blocked their release.
After the stay on releasing those records was lifted, Failla said Friday, "Any injunctive relief that I would order could not put that particular horse back in the barn."
The ruling, announced on a telephone conference, lead to someone shout: “Whoa!”
Failla said the temporary restraining order will remain in place until 2 p.m. Monday pending the unions appeal, which is expected.
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Under the ruling, the Civilian Complaint Review Board can post officers' complaint histories on its website, and the New York Police Department can share its separate disciplinary records, too, Failla said. New York City, under Mayor Bill de Blasio, sought to publish a database of its misconduct complaints online after the repeal of the state law, but the unions sued.
The unions, which also represent firefighters and correctional officers, argued that the release of unsubstantiated or unfounded allegations could put the reputations and physical safety of its officers at risk. Failla said, though, those claims by the unions fell short and did not show how the release of these records would put them in irreparable harm.
For years, Section 50-a of the Civil Rights Law in New York had allowed police departments to keep much their disciplinary records secret. A repeal of the law came in June amid nationwide protests calling for changes to police departments after the death of George Floyd.
The records published Thursday from the the Civilian Complaint Review Board, obtained by the NYCLU through state freedom of information laws, show that less than 3% of the 323,911 complaints filed against police officers resulted in penalties. More than 81,000 active or former NYPD officers faced complaints, and the database did not cover pending CCRB investigations.
Contributing: The Associated Press