#Federal judge rules NYPD disciplinary records should be made public

A federal judge has ruled police disciplinary records should be made public, even if the cops have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

“With a very limited exception for certain NYPD materials that I believe to be squarely covered by certain collective bargaining agreements, I am denying plaintiffs’ motion,” Southern District of New York Judge Katherine Polk Failla said via a teleconference call just after 12 p.m. Friday — dismissing the police, fire and corrections unions’ lawsuit.

“Whoa!” an unknown caller exclaimed.

The lawsuit brought by the coalition of unions argued that releasing unsubstantiated or unfounded allegations would put officers and firefighters at risk and would affect their employment prospects if they leave their department.

The controversial 50a law was repealed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in early June as part of a package of police reform bills in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

The ruling comes a day after a three-judge panel of the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the unions’ appeal to muzzle the New York Civil Liberties Union from publishing allegations against NYPD officers.

The NYCLU had obtained more than 322,000 complaints from the Civilian Complaint Review Board through New York’s Freedom of Information Law — and published a massive searchable database moments after the ruling came down.

The slew of allegations reached all the way up to Police Commissioner Dermot Shea and members of his executive team.

Failla had previously ordered a stay barring the NYCLU from publishing the records as she mulled the arguments from a coalition of police, fire and corrections unions in NYC. That order was lifted on July 28, triggering an appeal to the Second Circuit by the unions.