New York Senate Passes Bill Repealing 44-Year-Old Law Blocking Police Disciplinary Records
The New York Senate has passed a bill, 40-22, repealing a 44-year-old law which blocked police disciplinary records from being made public. An advocate for the repeal of provision 50-A says, “New Yorkers will be better able to hold their police department accountable for misconduct committed in their communities.”
This move is an early sign that the nationwide police brutality protests are indeed advancing actionable change. State Sen. Julia Salazar (D) said in a tweet Tuesday,,“We just passed the repeal of 50-a. This police secrecy statute has been a threat to our public safety for far too long. This repeal is a victory that advocates have been fighting for for years, & it’s a critical step in meaningfully changing policing in New York #BlackLivesMatter.“
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Furthermore, the 50-A law was first approved in the 1970s, with the purpose of preventing defense attorneys from introducing disciplinary incidents during cross-examinations of police, firefighters and correctional officers. New Yorkers have continued fighting to repeal this since the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement, particularly after the police-involved murder of Eric Garner.
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We just passed the repeal of 50-a. This police secrecy statute has been a threat to our public safety for far too long. This repeal is a victory that advocates have been fighting for for years, & it’s a critical step in meaningfully changing policing in New York #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/RArCh0rJab
— NYS Senator Julia Salazar (@SalazarSenate) June 9, 2020