Arguments from Gannett, police heard in case over Herkimer police disciplinary records
Arguments over whether a local police department should release past disciplinary records were held Wednesday in state Supreme Court in Oneida County.
Justice Bernadette Clark, who presided over the case, said she planned to make a decision soon on whether the Herkimer Police Department should release such records. A lawsuit was filed in November against the department, as well as village Police Chief Michael Jory and village Clerk-Treasurer Colleen Gross, by Gannett Company Inc. — parent company of the Herkimer Times Telegram and Utica Observer-Dispatch.
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The lawsuit stems from a Freedom of Information Law request sent by a reporter to the police department on June 17, 2020, asking for all materials and records that would show allegations of misconduct and disciplinary proceedings against any officer, employee, or representative of the department, court filings show. The village did not respond for nearly a year, despite follow-up reminders sent every 15 days, a petition from Gannett states. Disciplinary records of two police officers eventually were submitted June 28, 2021.
Court arguments
In court Wednesday, attorneys for both parties cited various court decisions made following the repeal of New York's Civil Rights Law Section 50-a — which had kept disciplinary records of police officers hidden from the public until its repeal in June 2020.
"Prior to its repeal, section 50-a of the Civil Rights Law operated as a black box," Michael Grygiel, an attorney representing Gannett, said in court Wednesday.
The major arguments came down to two issues: if the repeal applied retroactively to past records, and whether unsubstantiated complaints should be included. Martha Berry, an attorney representing the Herkimer Police Department, argued accessing such records was an invasion of personal privacy.
Clark herself expressed concerns that unfounded allegations against police officers could be resurfaced with the release of such records, and whether that served the public interest.
"You are not shining sunlight into that box, you are just making it impossible of police to defend themselves," she said.
Grygiel said the definition of the legislation is inclusive of both substantiated and unsubstantiated claims, and that their release could help establish whether there were patterns of misconduct in a department and if these were properly investigated.
"If the theories of the Herkimer Police Department are accepted by the court, the open door of transparency will become a peephole," he said.
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50-a and FOIL
The June 2020 FOIL request was made to create a searchable database with disciplinary records from across the state, a resource that would help police departments when considering new hires as well as providing transparency and police accountability for the public.
Dozens of New York police departments have begun to release, or have released these files, but hundreds have yet to do so. The city of Utica was among the first to post police personnel records online. In a dozen other states, such records are generally available to the public and various conditions apply to accessing records in other jurisdictions.
H. Rose Schneider covers public safety, breaking and trending news for the Observer-Dispatch. Email Rose at hschneider@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: 50-a case arguments heard in court from Herkimer police, Gannett
