March Monday Mayhem @ the Squirrel! Repeal 50-a, the law that hides blue crime!
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March Monday Mayhem: Repeal 50-a, the law that hides blue crime!
Monday, March 7
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Flying Squirrel Community Space
285 Clarissa St.
Rochester, NY
Discussion to follow presentation
Donations welcome!
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1280097322128752/
Enough Is Enough is going to present on its developing campaign to repeal NY Civil Rights Law 50-a for the Flying Squirrel's March Monday Mayhem!
So what the Heck is NY Civil Rights Law 50-a anyway?
New York civil rights law section 50-a provides blanket exclusion from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) for ANY police department documents that could potentially be used to evaluate an officer.
So how is 50-a affecting FOIL when it comes to the police department?
Since the mid-1990s, courts in NY have been expanding the use of 50-a in terrifying ways. At this point, any record that could possibly be used to evaluate the conduct of an officer is now protected from disclosure through FOIL. If citizens complain about an officer or he/she is accused of misconduct, every complaint made (or even just the number of complaints) against that officer is protected from disclosure. If internal affairs conducts an investigation for misconduct, corruption, the use of force, or anything else for that matter, every aspect of that report is protected from disclosure even if the names of the people involved are completely removed! If an officer is caught lying, cheating, or stealing and has disciplinary charges leveled against him/her, all of the findings are exempt from disclosure. Basically, the reasoning is that any police department information that can prove an officer is corrupt can also be used to evaluate that officer’s performance, and is therefore protected from ever being disclosed to the public. It’s an incredibly serious issue!
Police, the public employees with the most power over the health and wellbeing of the public, have the least amount of accountability to the people.
Section 50-a has hampered the public's right to know about the violent behavior of specific officers as well as police departments across NYS.
The Legal Aid Society of New York City has been trying to get the disciplinary record of officer Daniel Pantaleo who strangled Eric Garner to death. That case exists because 50-a was used to prevent those records from being released. It is on appeal by the City of New York and the police union.
Locally, Benny Warr, who was brutalized by officers Ferrigno, Liberatore, and Stewart, has been fighting for over a year to get documentation pertaining to a possible pattern and practice of police brutality and misconduct being condoned by the department. The release of discovery in his civil suit has been slow in coming as the city has stalled while citing 50-a.
Please join us and find out more about the need to repeal this unfair and dangerous law that protects the misconduct, brutality, and murder of police officers across NYS!
What is Monday Mayhem?
On the first Monday of every month, the Flying Squirrel hosts special programming that forgoes the technical and logistical concerns of running an open-use community space in order to take a closer look at the impact of our actions on the community and our potential as a catalyst for change.
