A report by BuzzFeed that highlights how the New York City Police Department (NYPD) handles disciplinary matters of its officers shows why strong transparency policies are needed to ensure public confidence in the police that serve them. You can read the article here:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/kendalltagg...Em#.xtpq3QLG4p
The article is troubling not just for the fact that the NYPD appears to keep officers employed who knowingly lied on reports and in court, who physically assaulted citizens, were corrupt, or committed other offenses that I think most people would say should warrant firing of a cop. Cops have tremendous power and ought to be held to high standards. NYPD appears to not want to uphold those high standards. But just as troubling is the NY state law that shields the records of these proceedings from public scrutiny. California and Delaware are the two other states that provide such strong secrecy laws for police personnel records. So two of our largest states appear to not care for transparency and accountability and instead opt for laws that let police departments keep officers on the job who ought not be there. How can the public have confidence in the good officers when the bad ones are not terminated. I hope that good cops would be just as outraged by this as I am but somehow I think most cops will quickly defend keeping those records secret.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/kendalltagg...Em#.xtpq3QLG4p
The article is troubling not just for the fact that the NYPD appears to keep officers employed who knowingly lied on reports and in court, who physically assaulted citizens, were corrupt, or committed other offenses that I think most people would say should warrant firing of a cop. Cops have tremendous power and ought to be held to high standards. NYPD appears to not want to uphold those high standards. But just as troubling is the NY state law that shields the records of these proceedings from public scrutiny. California and Delaware are the two other states that provide such strong secrecy laws for police personnel records. So two of our largest states appear to not care for transparency and accountability and instead opt for laws that let police departments keep officers on the job who ought not be there. How can the public have confidence in the good officers when the bad ones are not terminated. I hope that good cops would be just as outraged by this as I am but somehow I think most cops will quickly defend keeping those records secret.
This is Why More Police Department Transparency is Needed
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire