On November 12, 2009, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court against the New York Police Department (NYPD). The NYCLU asked the court for a judgment ordering the NYPD to turn over any and all 24-hour and 90-day reports prepared following each police shooting between 1997 and 2009, copies of any and all documents analyzing or addressing the role of race in NYPD shootings since 1990, and attorneys' fees and reasonable litigation costs, claiming that the NYPD inappropriately denied its Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests.

Specifically, the NYCLU claimed that NYPD officers disproportionately targeted blacks and latinos, and that the documents requested would help it substantiate a review of the history of police shootings in New York City. The NYPD turned down the FOIL request claiming that the request duplicated a request from 2007; that the documents were exempt pursuant to New York Civil Rights Law § 50-a(1) and New York Public Officers' Law § 87(2)(a), (b), (e)(i)-(iv), (f), (g), and 89(2); and that the request for documents analyzing police shootings was not specific enough to guide a search.

On February 28, 2011 Judge Emily Goodman entered a judgment in part granting the NYCLU's request for enforcement of its FOIL request, and in part denying the NYCLU's request. Judge Goodman ordered the NYPD to turn over all 24-hour and 90-day reports with identifying information and recommendations redacted. Furthermore, Judge Goodman found that the NYCLU did not request documents analyzing or addressing the role of race in NYPD shootings since 1990 with sufficient specificity and therefore denied the NYCLU's request for compelled disclosure, with leave for the NYCLU to serve a more specific request upon the NYPD. Finally, Judge Goodman severed the request for attorney's fees pending further litigation.

Nick Kabat - 03/23/2014


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