Beginning on March 8, 2021, the Department began publishing a limited number of disciplinary records of members on the NYPD’s website home page. The disciplinary records disclosed are limited to substantiated charges and specifications which resulted in a finding of guilty after trial or a plea of guilty to such charges. The Department will not be publishing exonerated, unfounded, or unsubstantiated allegations against members, nor the disciplinary history of retirees. So far, the records of only 25 Detectives were disclosed. Prior to the disclosure, we informed the members concerned and had them review the records to ensure their accuracy. It is because of our continued pressure that disclosure of records has been limited.
Here’s the backstory: In a summary order issued on Feb 16, 2021, by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Court affirmed the federal District Court’s decision denying our motion for a preliminary injunction on the proposed release of personnel and disciplinary records of Police Officers, Firefighters and Corrections Officers. We have always maintained that even though Civil Rights Law section 50-a has been repealed, the City cannot simply “dump” all of our members’ disciplinary records into some public database. Among other things, that would be a violation of our members’ due process rights and will pose a danger both to our members’ safety, and their reputations. In short, the Court held that in light of the fact that the State legislature repealed 50-a, the District Court did not abuse its discretion in finding that the asserted harm was “speculative” and there was no showing that Officers would suffer “irreparable harm,” a prerequisite to granting an injunction. It therefore affirmed the lower court’s denial of an injunction pending the full and final adjudication of our lawsuit. The case is now back before the District Court where our lawsuit is still pending. We are currently reviewing all of our legal options to determine what is best for our members. We will continue to push vigorously the Department to strictly follow the Freedom of Information Law. FOIL provides exemptions that the Department can follow to protect our members’ safety and privacy. We will continue to fight to ensure that the City applies these exemptions to our members fairly and consistently, as they do for other public employees.
