Release names of disciplined officers, court rules

Grewal's directive seen as win for transparency

By: Steve Janoski
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... In a significant victory for advocates of police transparency, the sate Supreme Court ruled Monday [06/07/2021] that the New Jersey attorney general did not overstep his bounds when he ordered law enforcement throughout the state to release the names of police officers punished for misconduct.
..... The case centered around Gurbir Grewal's directives, issued last June, [2020] that required departments to name disciplined officers going forward and would release the identities of two decades' worth of disciplined state troopers.
..... Police union attorneys argued that Grewal did not have the power to make such sweeping changes. The Attorney General's Office said it did.
..... The court sided with Grewal.
..... "We find that that Attorney General had the authority to issue the Directives, said Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, who wrote the decision for the unanimous court. "They are designed to enhance public trust and confidence in law enforcement, to deter misconduct, to improve transparency and access, and to identify repeat offenders who may try to move from the sensitive position to another.
..... "In short, the Directives are consistent with legislative policies and rest on a reasonable basis."
..... But the high court's decision, which will have far-reaching effects on policing in the garden state, left unresolved one of the most controversial parts of Grewal's order: the demand that the sate police reveal the names of 20 years' worth of troopers subject to major discipline.
..... The directive would identify by name nearly 500 troopers, or about 11% of the officers who worked for the agency during that time, according to court documents.
..... Police union attorneys have argued vehemently against the provision, saying the troopers whose names Grewal wishes to disclose were specifically promised that would never happen.
..... The court called this a "serious issue" that demands the attention of a trial judge, who will hear testimony and make a ruling that could apply to all future legal challenges. A similar process would be used to determine cases brought against local officials who also want to release misconduct backlogs, the decision read.
..... Grewal said in a statement that the court's decision begins a "new chapter for police transparency and accountability in New Jersey."
.... "By lifting the cloak of secrecy over our state's police disciplinary process, we are not simply ensuring accountability for those who engage in misconduct," Grewal said. "We are also demonstrating that the vast majority of law enforcement officers work hard and play by the rules."
..... Wayne Blanchard, president of the New Jersey State Troopers Fraternal Association, said he and the organization's 1,700 rank-and-file members did not argue against transparency going forward for certain types of offenses. But he questioned why Grewal wants to make incidents that happened decades ago public now.
..... "We think it was agenda-based, and we still scratch our heads at what legitimate purpose it really serves," Blanchard said. "But we're certainly pleased to see the troopers in the 20-eyar look-back have some recourse ... and we're certainly still willing to sit down with the attorney general to negotiate that out. I just don't see him as a willing party to be part of reasonable reform,"
..... Pat Colligan, head of the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association, called the ruling disappointing.
..... "To go back 20 years and say now the rules have changed - it's akin to going back and changing the speed limit on a ticket you got,: Colligan said.
..... Transparency advocates like CJ Griffin, a Hackensack attorney who focuses on public records access, were frustrated for different reasons.
..... The decision was a victory she said. But it offers only a small sliver of transparency, because most complaints aren't sustained in the first place, she said.
...>>>>>>.. Griffen urged hte state Legislature to pas a bill introduced last summer, [2020] S-2656, taht would make certain police disciplinary records public, such as complaitns, allegations, charges, dispositions of proceedigns and transcripts of any disciplinary trial or hearing.
..... "We must end the pracitces of police investigating themselves in secrecy and clearing themselves of misconduct," Grifin said.
..... alexander Shalon, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberites Union of New Jersey, also urged the state to pass the transparency bill - Grewal's directives were only "halfsteps forward," he said.
..... Still, he said, the court's decision was a "total repudiaiton of the unions' suggestion that they wer somehow beyond the erach of the chief law enforcement officer."
..... "It's really not an open question as to whether or not stuff can be made tranparent," Shalon said. "THe quesiton is: Does New Jersey ahve the politicla will to ensure that it is?"
.... the police bill is nuder consideration by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Commitee, according to the state website.
.... Last Juen, [2020] Grewal announced his plan to publicly name local, county and state police officers who were fired, demoted or suspended for mroe than five days jsut as the nationwide protests over the killing by police of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man from Mineapolis, reached their height.
..... Police unions sued almost immedatley.
..... But an appellate court sided with Grewal in October, [2020] rejecting the unions' assertion that the attorney general had strayed beyond the power of his office. Monday's [06/07/2021] state Supreme Court ruling affirmed the lower court's decision.
..... New Jersey is one of about two dozen states that allow departments to shield most police records from public view.
..... But the massive protests after the Floyd murder led some states to loosen their rules. New York, for example, repealed a law that had kept internal police records closed for 40 years.
..... California had been similarly secretive but opened its internal records and police video footage to the public in 2018.
..... attorneys for the police unions opposing the measures said in court that Grewal based his directives on politics, not evidence that disclosing names would either deter poor police behavior or enhance the public's trust in law enforcement.
..... Union attorneys also worried about retribution against the officers.
..... "It places a target on their back," said Kevin Jarvis, an attorney representing the New Jersey Superior Officers Law Enforcement Association.
..... Previously, departments released an annual list of actions that required major discipline. But they did not identify the officers.

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