Police misconduct records secret, difficult to access
CARBONDALE, Illinois (AP) — Police misconduct records are either secret or difficult to access in a majority of states - 35 of them plus Washington, D.C. But the breeze of openness is blowing. Seven big states hve opened records in recent years - California, New York, Illinois, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon and Maryland.
Now 15 states have laws that allow these records to be mostly available to the public - up from 12 a few years ago.
Legal experts say transparency of police misconduct records is one of the keys to police reform. David Harris, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, put it this way: “One thing that has changed is greater transparency. We have seen a number of jurisdictions enhancing and changing the way police misconduct records have been handled. You can’t have real accountability with the public unless you are willing to share information.”
The modest uptick in openness is the result of a combination of court decisions and reform laws passed since the murder of George Floyd. New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, Oregon and Maryland enacted laws in the past year opening records that were previously closed. California passed a law opening some records in 2018.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/police-misconduct-records-secret-difficult-to-access/ar-BB1gEq3J?li=BBnb7Kz