A nonprofit newsroom has sued the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services for the certification and disciplinary records of law enforcement officers, an effort that aims to give police departments and the public a better way to track wayward cops.
The nonprofit Invisible Institute charges that DCJS has not complied with the state Freedom of Information Act by failing to release the names of officers and other information on certification and disciplinary actions, according to a suit filed in September in Richmond Circuit Court.
A law passed in 2020 required departments to complete reviews of misconduct even if an officer resigned and to share disciplinary reports with state regulators who have the power to certify and decertify officers.
DCJS withheld officer names from a database of nearly 100,000 active and inactive law enforcement personnel, according to the court filing. The department claimed the names were exempt from disclosure because the officers could be tasked with undercover assignments.
Focus on police misconduct and criminal behavior ignited after the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of an officer with a lengthy history of misconduct complaints. Reform advocates say transparency into a law enforcement officer’s record helps prevent fired cops with a history of abuse from being hired at other agencies. It’s also imperative, advocates say, that the public knows who is policing their communities and whether they are qualified as law enforcement officers.
“The release of the requested information would allow the public to monitor if officers are sufficiently regulated — including whether they are prevented from evading repercussions for misconduct by changing jobs,” wrote lawyers for the plaintiffs from the University of Virginia School of Law First Amendment Clinic.
DCJS officials did not return messages seeking comment, and the agency has not filed a response to the complaint in court.
Virginia is one of 15 states that legally bans the release of officer data or has asserted in court that the information is exempt from disclosure, according to reporting by the Invisible Institute and a consortium of nonprofit newsrooms. The Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO has collaborated with the Invisible Institute to report on the state’s reluctance to release certain police personnel records.
After the Floyd murder and subsequent protests, state lawmakers vowed to enhance oversight to prevent bad cops from quietly moving to new law enforcement jobs.
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Sam Stecklow
Journalist
Invisible Institute
he/him/his
