NY Court Backs Disclosure of Police Records, Citizen Complaints (3)

Disciplinary records for police throughout New York can be made public even if they were created before the repeal of a state law that prevented those records from being disclosed, New York’s top court ruled Thursday.

The New York Court of Appeals concluded that the legislature intended for the repeal to have retroactive effect, which means police disciplinary records created before the repeal took effect in June 2020 are subject to state Freedom of Information Law requests.

“For starters, there is no indication that the repeal was intended to affect the usual manner in which FOIL operates,” Associate Judge Caitlin ...