NYPD suddenly decides it doesn't need to release info on cops who break department rules

The New York Police Department will no longer release information on discipline taken against officers who have broken department rules, the New York Daily News reports.

The Daily News notes that for years journalists have been able to read a Personnel Orders bulletin that "lists administrative cases closed out either by a plea deal or by a trial." The department is claiming that it's no longer releasing this information because officers' disciplinary records are protected by section 50-a of the 1976 state Civil Rights Law.

Apparently, someone within the department realized that it wasn't legally obligated to give out information on officers' disciplinary sanctions, and thus made the decision to stop doing so.

All the same, this decision is raising alarms among groups that promote more transparency at police departments.

"I think it’s part of a larger pattern of secrecy by the NYPD,” Adam Marshall, a legal fellow with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said to the Daily News. "It’s hard to imagine information more in the public interest, and the public interest in determining what has happened in these types of adjudications is incredibly important."