Judge Blocks Release of NY Firefighter, Police Records

The city's police and firefighter unions filed a lawsuit this week seeking to halt the public disclosure of portions of police officers' and firefighters' disciplinary records.

A judge on Friday temporarily blocked the City of Buffalo from publicly releasing three types of records in employees' disciplinary files: unsubstantiated allegations, pending allegations and matters that were the subject of confidential settlement agreements.

State Supreme Court Justice Frank A. Sedita III issued a temporary restraining order that prohibits the city and the police and fire departments from releasing such information. Sedita scheduled a hearing on the matter for next month.

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In June, following a change in state law known as "50-A," the disciplinary records of police officers and firefighters were no longer permitted to be withheld from public requests made through the Freedom of Information Law. That change, aimed at increasing transparency, was prompted by nationwide protests and calls for police reform following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.

But attorneys for the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association and Buffalo Professional Firefighters Association, Local 282, argue the city should still be bound from releasing information about disciplinary matters involving unsubstantiated or pending allegations, or subject to confidential settlement agreements, based on other legal protections. Those include the local union contracts and the state constitution.

"No actual evidence is required to make a complaint against a Buffalo police officer or firefighter," the unions' attorneys wrote in court papers. "False or otherwise meritless claims can be brought against members of the police and fire departments based on any number of nefarious or malicious motivations."

Making public the records of those types of complaints – which attorneys said were unproven "at best, and which are entirely false allegations against them at worst" – destroys an individual's reputation and privacy, as well as makes them less safe, attorneys John J. Gilmour and Daniel M. Killelea wrote.

Earlier this month, the police department began releasing disciplinary records based on Freedom of Information Law requests. In many cases, the department has provided what the department calls an officer's "disciplinary card." These documents include some identifying information about the employee, as well as a chart listing the type of complaint, the date an internal affairs case was opened and the disposition of the case.

The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, does not seek to block the release of full complaint history found in employees' disciplinary records.

The police union says it made an agreement with the city in May 2018 that the department would remove from an officer's records after five years "information concerning complaints which did not result in members' guilty pleas or findings of guilt."

One set of disciplinary records that were released earlier this month were those of Buffalo Police Lt. Michael DeLong, who was recorded on video in late June calling the woman recording him a vulgar name. The police union filed a grievance July 10 alleging the 2018 agreement was violated in DeLong's case because what was released contained information that should have been removed, according to court documents filed as part of the lawsuit. The union also filed a grievance Tuesday on behalf of an unspecified number of other officers whose records were released by the department a day earlier.

In addition to seeking to prevent the release of pending or unsubstantiated allegations, the unions' lawsuit seeks to block the city from releasing disciplinary records that are subject to confidential settlement agreements made prior to June 12, when the change to 50-A went into effect.

The disciplinary cards of police officers obtained by The Buffalo News through Freedom of Information Law requests have included no details on the incidents that led to the complaints. The records list the type of complaint. Some of the categories are excessive force; racial profiling; violation of departmental procedures, including cases involving motor vehicle accidents and calling in sick; off-duty conduct; and harassing conduct.

The records have included a variety of dispositions, including complaints that are not sustained and when an officer is deemed exonerated.

A city spokesman declined comment.

A federal judge in New York City issued a similar ruling this week in a lawsuit involving police and other public safety unions.

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