State leaders this summer opened a new era by making police disciplinary records available to the public through Freedom of Information requests. But some of the regionâs biggest police departments are moving at glacial speed in providing documents that expose wrongdoing by their officers.
For example, the Town of Tonawanda Police Department denied a Buffalo News request for its disciplinary records partly out of concern for its officersâ privacy, even though a judge had already ruled that complaints against police, proven or not, could be released, as the state Legislature intended.
The Buffalo Police Department, which has provided some records for individual officers, went seven weeks without acknowledging a News request for its disciplinary files, even though state law mandates a letter of acknowledgement within five business days.