The fight against police violence is far from over. The recent shootings of Trayford Pellerin in Lafayette, LA and Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI mark another horrible moment in our country’s long history of white supremacist state-sanctioned violence. It is vital that we keep pushing for an end to this racist system.
Here in New York, advocates for justice have been fighting for transparency and accountability to expose the truth of policing and push for change. In June, a bill to repeal section 50-a was signed into law by Governor Cuomo, the result of a four-year campaign by Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) to pass the #SaferNYAct package. 50-a was passed in 1976 and used by the NYPD to hide disciplinary records from the public under the guise of “protecting” the privacy of NYPD personnel. The repeal provided much needed transparency to NYPD disciplinary records which were historically shrouded in secrecy.
The repeal of 50-a is currently under attack by five NYPD police unions, joined by the corrections and firefighter unions. Just one month after the New York State legislature passed the repeal, the unions sued to block the City of New York from publishing databases containing officer misconduct and discipline information. Does this sound familiar? It should: earlier this year, district attorneys and police unions pressured the legislature to roll back recently-passed reforms on state bail and discovery law. This is part of a broader pattern of the racist criminal justice system, as police unions mobilize against progress. Despite these efforts, a broad coalition of New Yorkers has won a step forward for transparency on police harm and NYPD’s systemic refusal to discipline officers:
In July, CPR, represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit brought by the unions.
On Tuesday, August 18, citing papers filed by CPR, US District Court Judge Katherine Polk Failla denied (with certain exceptions) the police unions’ request for a preliminary injunction to prevent NYC from publishing the databases..
On August 20, the NYCLU released their database of NYPD misconduct. The NYCLU had obtained the full records through a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request before the misconduct databases became the subject of the lawsuit filed by the unions. The database contains comprehensive information on over 320,000 misconduct complaints dating back to before 1985. The entries are all related to filings at the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and include only a portion of overall complaints.
This dismantling of police secrecy is long overdue, and as white folks fighting for racial justice, we need to remain vigilant. For information on how to get involved in the Police Accountability Working Group, along with other actions to take next week, read on! As always, we’re glad you’re here and look forward to continued learning with you.
In solidarity,
SURJ NYC