This law makes records of police misconduct unavailable to the public. As highlighted in our Profiling the Police project, “The law now gives officers a blanket shield from public disclosure or accountability and unfairly puts the burden on the community to expose abuses and push for accountability.”

According to the letter sent to New York state lawmakers, “Full repeal of 50-a is the only way to guarantee an end to officially sanctioned secrecy for police misconduct and the systemic lack of discipline and accountability for misconduct. The public should have the right to know how police departments respond when officers engage in misconduct.”

The full letter is available here.

photo credit: Adrian Owen/Flickr