New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is poised to sign legislation, approved by the State Legislature earlier this week, which would rescind a decades old law and make police officers’ disciplinary records public knowledge. The move comes following our country’s outrage over the death of George Floyd.
Both New York’s State Assembly and Senate approved the repeal of part of the Civil Rights Law, known as Section 50-a, on Tuesday. That provision had kept the public from being able to see the disciplinary records of law enforcement personnel in the Empire State. Any misconduct complaints were inaccessible. That will no longer be the case once Cuomo puts his signature to the bill.
Accountability and transparency legislation has been moving through the New York Legislature in recent months, as Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations have have demanded change in the way police conduct themselves against African Americans and other minorities.
Police unions in states all throughout the nation have been vocal in their opposition to police reforms, but it is becoming more and more apparent that tactics such as chokeholds will no longer be permitted by police.
Personnel records of firefighters and corrections officers will also become public when Governor Cuomo signs the legislation.