NYPD Holdings v. New York City Police Department

Court: New York State Court of Appeals

Date Filed: Nov. 15, 2024

Background: In October 2021, the New York Post sued the New York City Police Department after it failed to turn over records in response to most of the newspaper’s 144 requests for documents relating to complaints of police misconduct. The Post’s public records requests were submitted on June 12, 2020, the same day that state lawmakers repealed Section 50-a of New York’s Civil Rights Law, a controversial provision initially enacted to prevent the misuse of  officers’ information but which had long been used to shield misconduct from public scrutiny.

During the litigation, the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York intervened, arguing that police misconduct records created before the repeal of Section 50-a were protected from public disclosure. 

In October 2023, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, held that the repeal applied retroactively and sided with the Post that the records were subject to disclosure. The police union appealed the ruling to the New York State Court of Appeals.

Our Position: In a friend-of-the-court brief joined by 26 media organizations, the Reporters Committee argued that the New York State Court of Appeals does not need to decide whether a retroactivity analysis applies to the repeal of Section 50-a in order to find that records pre-dating the repeal are open to disclosure and urged the court to affirm decisions of the lower court and other New York appellate courts, all of which correctly held that pre-repeal records are available. The Reporters Committee also expressed its agreement with The Post’s argument that even if a retroactivity analysis is required, that standard is met here.

• The New York Legislature intended for the repeal of Section 50-a to give the press and public access to police complaint records, regardless of when those records were created.

• Access to complaint records, including pre-June 12, 2020, records, ensures the press can do its job to keep the public informed on the issues that precipitated repeal of Section 50-a.

From the Brief: “The legislative intent behind the repeal of Section 50-a — to meaningfully increase police transparency and accountability, including by making all complaints of misconduct and records of discipline, regardless of when they were created, public — would be defeated if only a small portion of those records were open to the press and public.”

Related: The Reporters Committee has filed several friend-of-the-court briefs in separate legal disputes over access to police misconduct records prompted by the repeal of Section 50-a, including most recently in New York Civil Liberties Union v. City of Rochester, which is now before the New York State Court of Appeals. 

Attorneys from the Reporters Committee and Davis Wright Tremaine are also representing THE CITY, a nonprofit news outlet, in a lawsuit against the NYPD seeking access to police misconduct records. In June 2024, a judge ordered the NYPD to finally begin disclosing documents following extensive delays.