NYCLU Statement on NYPD Misconduct and Discipline Database

NEW YORK CITY – The de Blasio administration today released a partial database of NYPD officer misconduct and discipline records authorized to be disclosed following the repeal of 50-a, a statute of the state civil rights code that had been used for years to bar the disclosure of police misconduct.

In response, the New York Civil Liberties Union issued the following statement from executive director Donna Lieberman:

“With today’s NYPD database release, the de Blasio administration made it clear that they are on the side of impunity, not justice.

“The repeal of 50-a sent a clear message across the state that the old guard regime of police secrecy could no longer stand. Yet this database gives police unions, not the New Yorkers who demanded accountability, exactly what they wanted: officer profiles only include guilty findings from formal charges, leaving the overwhelming majority of police misconduct cases exempt from public scrutiny.

“The NYPD database comes nowhere close to including the full universe of misconduct. It is a slap in the face to every New Yorker that took to the streets and the polls demanding an end to the secrecy shrouding NYPD abuse.”