Judge Katherine Polk Failla’s ruling, a blow to public safety unions seeking a way around a new state transparency law, came a day after the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union won an appeals court’s consent to publish records of 320,000 NYPD complaints dating to the mid-1980s.
“Any injunctive relief that I would order could not put that particular horse back in the barn,” Failla said on a telephone conference announcing the decision. She also found that the unions failed to show that officers would suffer irreparable harm from letting the public see complaint records.
Failla said the temporary restraining order will stay in effect until 2 p.m. Monday while the unions appeal.
The Police Benevolent Association, representing New York City police officers, and other public safety unions focused primarily on blocking the release of complaints deemed unsubstantiated or unfounded, and matters in which officers were exonerated or a settlement was reached.
The unions argued that posting unproven or false complaints could sully officers’ reputations and compromise their safety, but their lawyer, Anthony Coles, failed to pinpoint an instance where an officer was put in jeopardy because someone had obtained information about his or her discipline history.
Navy Vet