SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — In a unanimous ruling this week, New Jersey's Supreme Court said police departments must hand over internal affairs documents in certain instances of police misconduct. The lawyer who argued the case told KYW Newsradio this is a win for those in favor of transparency.
This is the second ruling in a week that requires transparency and accountability for police and public officials.
"Two weeks ago, police investigated themselves in complete secrecy. We had no right to know about any of it," said attorney CJ Griffin, who argued on behalf of plaintiff Richard Rivera.
The case involved former Elizabeth, New Jersey police director James Cosgrove, who resigned in 2019 following an internal affairs investigation that discovered years of racist and sexist language and behavior.
Read the court's decision below.
The Supreme Court ruled that while those records do not fall under New Jersey's Open Public Records Act, they should be released if public interest outweighs the need for confidentiality.
Griffin said the high court's message here is clear: people deserve the truth when it comes to official misconduct.
"Excessive force and deadly force," said Griffin, "discrimination and bias, which is what was in this case, domestic or sexual violence, concealment or fabrication of evidence or reports, criminal behavior or abusing the public's trust in some way."
Griffin said this brings New Jersey on the same level with many other states, including New York and Florida.
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KYW Newsradio's Andre Bennett contributed to this story.