A correction officer stomps on the genital area of Robert L. Brooks as other officers hold him down on an infirmary bed at Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9. Brooks' killing was followed less than three months later by the beating death of Messiah Nantwi by correction officers at nearby Mid-State Correctional.

It took the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer five years ago to finally persuade New York's elected officials to repeal 50-a, the section of state Civil Rights Law that for decades had blocked the release of most disciplinary records of police officers.

That misbegotten law and the court decisions that expanded it to cover other public safety workers kept the public in the dark regarding accountability (or the lack thereof). And by making it considerably easier to keep rogue cops on the job, 50-a contributed to countless injustices.

Advertisement

Article continues below........

© Times Union