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LAS Slams Move to Keep NYPD Disciplinary Files Secret

The Legal Aid Society condemned an attempt by the New York City Law Department to keep NYPD disciplinary records produced for lawsuits over racial justice protests confidential — despite the repeal of 50-a, the state law that kept NYPD disciplinary records safe from public scrutiny.

The appeal was revealed in court Wednesday in a letter to Judge Colleen McMahon, who is overseeing various lawsuits brought on behalf of protesters against the city, as report by the New York Daily News.

Jennvine Wong, a staff attorney at The Legal Aid Society, remarked on the irony of the City’s request, coming in the wake of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s repeal of the state law that kept NYPD disciplinary records hidden from public view following the protests over the police killing of George Floyd.

“We’re talking about a lawsuit that deals with protesters who rose up this summer and demanded police accountability, it does seem ironic — it seems poetic!” Wong said. “I would say secrecy habits are just hard to break.”