RECORDS OF PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE CIVILIAN COMPLAINT REVIEW BOARD ARE POLICE OFFICER PERSONNEL RECORDS WHICH ARE EXEMPT FROM A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW REQUEST.
The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Sweeney, reversing Supreme Court, determined Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) records are police officer “personnel records” and are therefore exempt from disclosure under the Public Officers Law and Civil Rights Law. Petitioner sought a summary of any CCRB proceedings involving Officer Pantaleo, who was videotaped applying a choke hold to Eric Garner. Eric Garner died while being restrained by police officers:
We are called upon to determine whether the documents sought herein are the type of documents that fall within the parameters of “personnel records” and are thus protected from disclosure. Civil Rights Law § 50-a does not define “personnel records,” leaving it to the courts to determine the kind of documents qualify for this exemption. * * *
… [T]here is no question that the summary sought involves one officer and are part and parcel of his personnel file. There is also no question that the records sought are “used to evaluate performance toward continued employment or promotion,” as required by the statute. …
CCRB findings and recommendations are clearly of significance to superiors in evaluating police officers’ performance. As noted, all complaints filed with the CCRB, regardless of the outcome, are filed with and remain in an officer’s CCRB history, which is part of his or her personnel record maintained by the NYPD. We therefore hold that the CCRB met its burden of demonstrating that those documents constitute “personnel records” for purposes of Civil Rights Law § 50-a, and that they fall squarely within a statutory exemption of the statute … . Matter of Luongo v Records Access Officer, Civilian Complaint Review Bd., 2017 NY Slip Op 02523, 1st Dept 3-30-17
