Supreme Court to Review a Second Case on the Confidentiality of Police Personnel Information

Less than two weeks ago, the Supreme Court granted review of a case to consider whether OPRA’s personnel exemption bars disclosure of the name of a state trooper who was fired for misconduct. The Court recently granted review of a second case, FOP v. City of Newark, which similarly involves the application of OPRA’s personnel exemption to police officers accused of misconduct.

FOP v. City of Newark concerns the validity of a Newark ordinance creating a civilian board empowered to investigate citizens’ complaints of police misconduct. As I discussed here, the Appellate Division struck down one part of the ordinance, allowing public disclosure of the identities of the complainants and the affected police officers, noting that this conflicts with OPRA’s requirement that personnel records are confidential.

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