ALBANY – A provision in the state’s Civil Rights Law shielding the personnel records of police officers, professional firefighters and corrections officers also bars the release of those documents after an officer has left the job, the Appellate Division, Third Department, held on May 30 in a novel Freedom of Information Law decision.
In Matter of Hearst Corp. v. New York State Police, 515693, the panel found that Civil Rights Law §50-a applies not only to the records of current officers, but former officers as well. The court rejected an effort by an Albany newspaper to obtain personnel records of a former state trooper allegedly involved in a hit-and-run while off-duty, even though the officer is no longer employed by the State Police.
