NYCLU
sues for access to legal opinions in NYPD misconduct trials
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NEW YORK – The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit in
state court seeking access to the judicial opinions in NYPD trials of police
misconduct allegations already substantiated by the Civilian Complaint Review
Board (CCRB), the independent oversight agency responsible for investigating
complaints of police misconduct.
“Given the intense public debate over aggressive NYPD
practices like stop-and-frisk, and the troubling recent reports of spying,
ticket-fixing, and other abusive and unlawful police behavior, the public has
every right to know how Commissioner Kelly is holding his officers
accountable for substantiated misconduct,” NYCLU executive Director Donna
Lieberman said. “Unfortunately, the NYPD has once against demonstrated that
it prefers secrecy and stonewalling to transparency and accountability.”
Though the NYPD trials are open to the public, the Department
refuses to disclose the written judicial opinions that decide the outcomes of
those trials. The opinions show the NYPD’s legal and factual basis for its
ruling concerning CCRB-substantiated misconduct complaints. They include a
summary of trial testimony, factual findings and legal conclusions supporting
the determination of an officer’s guilt and the appropriate penalty.
The NYCLU filed the lawsuit on April 13 in State Supreme Court
of New York County.
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