Brooklyn DA Releases List of Untrustworthy Cops
by Anthony W. Accurso
The District Attorney’s Office for Brooklyn, New York, released a list of New York City Police Department officers who cannot testify in court because of prior misconduct.
Known as a Brady (or more precisely for New York, Giglio) list, this is a list of officers whom the DA’s Office has determined can’t be trusted to testify in court due to previous acts of perjury, evidence planting, or other severe misconduct or criminal behavior. The NYPD maintains this list internally, so the DA’s Office doesn’t lose a case by calling an officer who, by their dishonest reputation, will undermine a case.
Previous attempts to obtain this list directly from the NYPD resulted in a database that was heavily redacted to make it deliberately unclear which officers have had various complaints filed against them.
However, following the 2020 repeal of § 50-a, a law which prevented disclosure of records about police officers, more information about bad cops has been obtained from various sources.
The most recent release, published by Tarak Shah of Gothamist, adds 679 records to a list that is now over 10,000 records deep.
The NYPD has long resisted making this list public because it believes that allowing defense attorneys to have access to it undermines prosecutions and makes communities less safe. But this is getting it backwards—leaving crooked and dishonest cops on the beat is what undermines prosecutions and the safety of the community. No community can be safe when the police force is staffed by criminals.
Source: techdirt.com
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