State Police Lawsuit Would Hide Police Disciplinary Information from the Public
HARTFORD, Conn. 鈥� The Connecticut state police union today announced that it filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a new provision of Connecticut law regarding open records. The law prohibits police collective bargaining agreements, including those of state and local police agencies, from barring the disclosure of certain records of disciplinary action in a sworn police employee鈥檚 personnel file. The following is a reaction from 老澳门开奖结果 of Connecticut executive director David McGuire:
鈥淚n a democracy, the people have a right to know what our government is doing in our names, yet the state police union鈥檚 lawsuit ultimately seeks to hide police disciplinary records from the public. Government transparency is particularly critical when the government employees in question carry guns and handcuffs, and it is doubly important when the records in question are about violence or other misconduct on the part of those employees. Police disciplinary and internal affairs records are essential tools not only for assessing individual officers鈥� histories, but for determining a police agency鈥檚 patterns of behavior when confronted with cases of police violence or other misconduct. We鈥檝e seen the consequences of shielding police disciplinary records from the public with New York鈥檚 disastrous and recently-repealed 50-a law, and Connecticut鈥檚 legislature did the right thing when it passed this provision to prevent our state from going further down a similar path. The legislature has the authority and responsibility to protect the public鈥檚 right to access police disciplinary records.鈥�
The Connecticut state police an open records request from a Hearst reporter seeking information about troopers鈥� disciplinary records, citing a contract provision.
To access this statement online:
