ALBANY — The New York Civil Liberties Union said this week it has filed a lawsuit against the New York State Police, contending the agency has improperly rejected its request for records alleging misconduct by troopers, including those that had previously been shielded by law from public view.

The legal advocacy group, an offshoot of the American Civil Liberties Union, contends the records are subject to public disclosure as the result of legislation enacted two years ago that repealed a 1976 statute that exempted law enforcement disciplinary records from public disclosure requirements.

“Police transparency is now codified into law, and police departments can no longer argue that they must be trusted to police themselves, immune from public scrutiny,” said Bobby Hodgson, NYCLU supervising attorney.

The documents sought by the NYCLU include records of unsubstantiated and still pending allegations against police officers.

A spokesman for State Police, William Duffy, said the litigation is being reviewed, adding the agency has no immediate comment on it.

The NYCLU lawyers are seeking similar information from the state Department of Correctional Services and Community Supervision, the agency that employs thousands of corrections officers at state prison, as well as from the municipal police agencies for Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Schenectady, Yonkers, Troy, Hempstead, Freeport, Suffolk County and Nassau County.

Advocates for greater transparency for such records had cheered the passage of the repeal of what is known as Section 50-A of state Civil Service Law, saying it would open a window into how police agencies responded to complaints made by civilians and others against officers.

Such information was usually hidden from public view, with the rare exceptions coming when the results of internal affairs investigations were leaked to the news media.

Thomas Mungeer, president of the New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association is among the law enforcement union leaders who oppose the release of records relating to disciplinary charges that prove to be unfounded.

Mungeer told CNHI troopers would be unfairly maligned if such information were to be disclosed.

“Anybody can make an accusation,” Mungeer said. “The responsible media would take that information and just discount it. But with the advent of the internet, as you know, it’s the Wild West out there, and anybody can be a so-called media platform.”

“Say there were 10 unfounded complaints out there against me,” Mungeer said, speaking hypothetically. “It doesn’t matter that they are based on absolutely zilch. It still would look to the public that I’m a bad trooper.”

A legal advisory opinion issued in July 2020 by state Committee on Open Government director Shoshana Bewley concluded that records involving allegations of misconduct that have yet to be substantiated or did not result in disciplinary action “may in our view be withheld where the agency determines that disclosure would result in an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

“In addition, to the extent that charges are dismissed, or allegations are found to be without merit, we believe that those records also may be withheld based on considerations of privacy,” Bewlay said.

Bewlay’s opinion was issued about a month after then Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the law repealing the measure that exempted police disciplinary records from disclosure.

The NYCLU’s lawsuit says the State Police, after providing scant information over a period of 16 months, responded last January with a spreadsheet listing disciplinary cases, but with the names of officers redacted from the document.

The State Police, according to the lawsuit, explained that it was redacting the names to “prevent an unwarranted intrusion of personal privacy of those concerned.”

The lawsuit contends the NYCLU “has a clear right to an unredacted version of this spreadsheet.”

The litigation seeks records relating to complaints of excessive force, employee misconduct, immigration and citizenship enforcement as well as diversity in the ranks.

New York repealed the exemption that prevented the disclosure of police disciplinary records amid a national movement for greater accountability over police agencies that gained momentum after George Floyd died in Minneapolis in May 2020 while being arrested. A Minneapolis officer,, Derek Chauvin, is now serving a prison term of 22 1/2 years after being convicted of murdering Floyd.

As for the FOIL request sent to the prison agency, Arianna Fishman, spokeswoman for NYCLU, said: “The NYCLU’s FOIL request for DOCCS records remains open; we have been receiving partial responses and continue to await a full response to our request. We are engaged in ongoing discussions about continued productions and outstanding documents.”