Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the ‘Say Their Name’ Reform Agenda package on Friday, which included repealing civil rights law 50-a Allowing for transparency of prior disciplinary records of law enforcement officers.
Civil rights leaders and mothers of Black men killed by police including Valerie Bell, the mother of Sean Bell, Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP New York State State Conference President Hazel Dukes were on hand to witness the signing.
“The murder of George Floyd was just the tipping point of the systemic injustice and discrimination that has been going on in our nation for decades, if not centuries,” Cuomo said. “These are issues that the country has been talking about for a long time, and these nation-leading reforms will make long overdue changes to our policing and criminal justice systems while helping to restore community confidence in law enforcement. “
The New York State Senate and Assembly voted to repeal Civil Rights Law 50-a this week. The state law, on the books since the 1970s, is often used to shield police misconduct and police disciplinary processes from public view. The Senate voted 40-22 and the Assembly voted 101-43 for the repeal of the law. Law 50-a has garnered recent interest after the police killing of Black, unarmed George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of a white police officer who put his knee on Floyd’s neck. The officer involved, Derek Chauvin, had a reported 16 complaints against him prior to Floyd’s death.
During the 2014 police killing case of Eric Garner, 50-a played a major role in shielding the misconduct record of the officer who killed Garner, Daniel Panteleo. The records were eventually leaked to the media by a city official.
The repeal bill also includes other changes related to law enforcement misconduct. Personal contact information of survivors of police violence, complainants, witnesses, and family members of those who have been killed or brutalized would become private. Relevant administrative misconduct and discipline currently permitted to be redacted in Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests will be more difficult to hide by police departments.
In an interview with the AmNews, the senate sponsor of the bill, Sen. Jamaal Bailey said that 50-a is a transparency measure and gives the kind of transparency about police officers patrolling the streets that many have been calling on for years.
“No one bill by itself will stop the issues that we have with the systemic injustice that seeps into our police departments,” Bailey said. “However, this is a huge step because what it does is it allows the disciplinary records of officers to be available. When you’re able to do that, you can restore the public trust. People will have greater ability that they are being listened to and that people on the street policing them really want to be there.”
Bailey added that while he believes the majority of police officers enforce the law properly, repealing 50-a serves as “wake-up call” to getting rid of officers who use excessive force.
“The first step is making the records available,” Bailey said. “I want to ensure that police officers have the right like anybody else to be protected, to not be harassed by people. This bill about transparency and looking to restore the public trust with the availability of disciplinary records.”
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said the recent police killings of African Americans has strengthened the Black community’s mistrust of the police and repealing 50-a could help put faith in the criminal justice system.
“The horrific murder of George Floyd, the most recent in a long list of innocent people like Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sean Reed, Tony McDade, and so many more, has led to a rightful outpouring of grief and anger,” she said. “Black New Yorkers, like all residents of this state, deserve to know that their rights, and lives, are valued and protected by our justice system.
The Assembly sponsor, Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell, said that repealing 50-a has been the subject of many of the protests that have taken place and that the public deserve more police accountability.
“The past two weeks, New Yorkers have spoken loud and clear, demanding police reform and systemic changes to our justice system,” O’Donnell said. “New York has the most restrictive police secrecy law in the country. Forty-seven states have no law like 50-a, specifically making law enforcement officers’ personnel records confidential”
NAACP New York State Conference Pres. Dr. Hazel Dukes said repealing 50-a is a first step to other police reforms.
“We at the New York State Conference of the NAACP have long worked alongside our legislative leaders to realize the repeal of 50-a and the passage of these other important reforms,” she said.
Rev. Al Sharpton said making it easier for police misconduct records to be made available to the public will make it easier for victims of police misconduct and their families to get transparency.
“The current systems in place only serve to aid and abet police misconduct, police cruelty and policy brutality and these bills are a step forward to ensure mechanisms of accountability are in place to avoid senseless killings and egregious violations of our human rights,” he said.
The bill to repeal law 50-a now goes to the State Assembly, then to Gov. Andrew Cuomo who has vowed to sign the bill.
Several police unions including the Police Benevolent Association, the Detectives’ Endowment Association and the Corrections Officers’ Benevolent Association oppose repealing 50-a. The unions say releasing disciplinary records would compromise the safety of law enforcement officers.
“The release of such records…would expose the accused officer to serious safety concerns as well as unavoidable and irreparable harm to reputation and livelihood,” the unions said in a joint statement.
“Gov. Cuomo needs to know: if he doesn’t sign these bills into law, the families are coming for him,” said Valerie Bell, mother of Sean Bell.