CJ Griffin Argues in NJ Supreme Court Regarding Police Union Challenges to Police Transparency Directives Issued by NJ Attorney General
CJ Griffin, Director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, was quoted in several articles regarding a recent New Jersey Supreme Court arguments, in which several police unions appealed the published Appellate Division decision upholding Attorney General Law Enforcement Directives 2020-5 and 2020-6. Those Directives, issued by the New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal in June 2020, ordered the disclosure of the names of law enforcement officers who receive major discipline. CJ filed an amicus curiae brief and argued on behalf of the National Coalition of Latino Officers and the Law Enforcement Action Partnership in support of these police transparency Directives. The police unions challenging the Directives argued that the Attorney General did not have the authority to issue the Directives and that even if he did, the officers’ names could not be released because they were promised confidentiality.
“Police transparency advocates such as CJ Griffin, a Hackensack attorney who focuses on public records access, disagreed.
‘The government or any public official cannot contract away the public's right to access what should be public records," Griffin said. "The unions have to stop viewing transparency as a punishment — it isn't. It's a way to build trust with the public. And they have to stop demanding absolute secrecy, because it undermines that trust.’"
To read the article in The Record and Asbury Park Press, please click here
To read the article in Courthouse News, please click here
https://www.courthousenews.com/secrecy-for-disciplined-police-officers-fought-at-top-nj-court/
To read the article in the New Jersey Law Journal, please click here