Overview
- The Police Benevolent Association filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday in Manhattan that seeks to block the Civilian Complaint Review Board from naming officers in unsubstantiated cases and to require redactions and a name-clearing process.
- The union says CCRB records disclosed through public-records requests are reposted on the outside database 50-a.org without removal of unproven claims, and the site is not a defendant in the case.
- The filing points to an October 2025 CCRB shift to spell out sexual misconduct, bias-based policing, and lying allegations even when unproven, citing meeting notes where the agency acknowledged such labels can be prejudicial.
- The complaint argues the disclosure policy violates officers’ constitutional rights and harms careers and safety, while the CCRB says its investigations are thorough and its releases comply with laws governing public records.
- The dispute follows a CCRB record-keeping error that led to the dismissal of nearly 50 bias complaints and agency data showing it could not substantiate more than 250 bias cases in early 2025 while substantiating 17.