BUFFALO, N.Y. —
The disciplinary records of police officers across the state have been a well-guarded secret until last month, when the state Legislature and governor changed the law to make them public. Some of those records involving Buffalo police are now being disclosed, including 50 pages released Monday to media outlets including Investigative Post after we filed a request used the Freedom of Information Law.
The records involve the disciplinary records of officers who have been investigated most often by the department’s Internal Affairs unit in the past five years. Buffalo police released information on the 10 percent of officers who received the most complaints within their work areas, including detectives, patrol officers and cell block attendants. There are almost 30 police officers named in the documents. Our preliminary analysis found a handful of officers account for a disproportionate share of the complaints.