The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a petition filed by the Connecticut State Police Union challenging a portion of the state’s Police Accountability Act.
In the petition filed in April of this year, the union argues that the 2020 law violated a portion of their collective bargaining agreement.
Specifically, the union disagreed with a portion of the law that made all police complaints available to the public via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This would include any complaints deemed “exonerated, unfounded or not sustained.” The union argues that allowing the public access to so-called “false reports” could tarnish an officer’s reputation.
The Supreme Court did not offer any comment when denying the petition on Monday, which is not unusual. That denial upholds the decision of the lower courts, which kept the state law in place.
According to the petition, the lower courts upheld the law because it constituted a “reasonable response to the ‘genuine crisis’ in public confidence facing American cities and States in the weeks and months following the nationwide protests that [George] Floyd’s murder spurred.”
In addition to broader FOIA definitions, the Police Accountability Act also created the position of Inspector General to oversee investigations into accusations of police misconduct.
