A Manhattan judge rejected a liberal legal group’s demand that the NYPD turn over photographs and tax identification numbers for “all active members” — for fear the information would turn officers into targets.
The Legal Aid Society had asked the court to force the department to turn over the information to make it easier for people with misconduct complaints to identify police officers, according to court papers.
But on Wednesday Judge Arthur Engoron denied the request, because Legal Aid is not “bound by confidentiality,” he wrote in his decision.
“…Granting [Legal Aid’s] request would be akin to having a billboard in Times Square posting the photographs, names and tax identification numbers of every police officer,” Engoron wrote. “This just does not sit right with this court.”
But the court rejected the NYPD’s argument the disclosure would “reveal non-routine criminal investigative techniques or procedures” and that cops have a right to personal privacy.
“Police officers, like other public servants, give up a modicum of ‘personal privacy’ in exchange for the various benefits of the job,” the judge wrote in his decision.
But the judge was convinced by the NYPD’s argument that police officers lives could be in danger because their addresses could be obtained by any person who “held a grudge” against a cop.
Granting the petition “would constitute a danger to the life and safety” of police officers and interfere with “investigations involving undercover officers,” said NYPD Deputy Inspector and Commanding Officer of the Intelligence & Counterterrorism Bureau’s Operation and Analysis Section Robert Brava.
The court decided against releasing the info, but suggested the group tailor its request to “exclude material that would compromise police safety,” the judge wrote.
“Perhaps police officers should be required to wear larger name tags, and/or be highly penalized for attempting to obscure their name tags and/or for refusing to identify themselves when asked to do so,” the judge suggested.