Police Misconduct Records Are Secret. Protests May Finally Change That.

The grief, rage, and community organizing regarding the recent murders of more Black people by police officers is creating the possibility of change across the county. As more and more people are convinced that police departments should be defunded, there is also a push for reforms that increase public safety and police accountability without allocating more power to police. One such reform is that police misconduct records must be made public. We recommend this article about the fight to overturn a New York law that shields police officers from scrutiny by keeping their complaint histories secret. 

Police secrecy is a problem in Massachusetts as well. Here, although we can typically learn if an officer has a history of complaints such as brutality or false arrest, there is no law that requires a police department to reveal what discipline, if any, the officer received. The reasons for imposing discipline are also kept secret. Without knowing the discipline, the public cannot know if police officers are being held accountable when they violate people’s rights.