The city’s Bar Association is calling on lawmakers to repeal a decades-old statute shielding police disciplinary records from the public.
The city’s broad interpretation of the law, a 1976 civil rights provision known as 50-a, “fuels the mistrust between communities and the NYPD officers pledged to protect them,” reads a report issued by the City Bar Association Monday.
“How can it be that those public employees having the most power and authority over peoples’ lives are the least accountable?” asked Bob Freeman of the New York State Committee on Open Government.
His is one of 32 civil rights and police reform organizations who are also calling on the law’s repeal. Read more…