Police Benevolent Association Of the City of New York Incorporated
125 Broad Street, NY, NY, 10004-2400
Patrick Hendry, President
Contact:
212-298-9187
May 8, 2026
NYC PBA Sues CCRB – AGAIN – Over Illegal Record Release
NYPD oversight agency released thousands of records without properly notifying officers, in violation of NYS law
Today, the New York City PBA filed its second lawsuit in two weeks against the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) after discovering that the agency is flouting state law by releasing police officers’ records without notifying them.
This state lawsuit is a companion to the landmark federal lawsuit filed by the PBA on April 21 over CCRB’s violation of police officers’ constitutional due process rights by releasing false and unproven stigmatizing complaints to anti-police activists.
In a complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court, the PBA accuses CCRB of ignoring new provisions of the state’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requiring the agency to notify police officers when their disciplinary records are requested through the FOIL process. While other agencies across the state have already overhauled their notification procedures to comply with the new law, CCRB has failed to do so.
READ THE LAWSUIT
NYC PBA President Patrick Hendry said: “CCRB is so thoroughly infected with anti-police bias that it refuses to comply with even the most basic requirements of fairness and due process under the law. While the agency intentionally destroys officers’ careers and reputations every single day, it doesn’t even bother notify them before tarnishing their names forever with false accusations. It seems there is no rule CCRB will not bend or law it will not break to further its radical agenda. The PBA will leave no stone unturned until we have uprooted every example of bias and malice within this agency.”
In 2024, the state Legislature amended the Public Officers Law to require government agencies to develop a policy for notifying public employees whenever the agency processes a request for such employee’s disciplinary records. Under a separate PBA lawsuit filed against CCRB last month in federal court, the PBA challenges CCRB’s unconstitutional policy of publishing false allegations of severe misconduct via FOIL.
The PBA is asking the state court to declare CCRB’s public disclosure process an illegal violation of police officers’ protected notification rights. The union is also seeking an immediate halt to CCRB’s processing of any FOIL requests containing officer personnel information until the agency adopts an adequate notification policy. Along with CCRB, the lawsuit names as co-defendants CCRB interim chair Sherene Crawford – appointed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani in March – and CCRB executive director Jonathan Darche, in their official capacities.
# # #
The Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York (PBA) is the largest municipal police union in the nation and represents nearly 50,000 active and retired NYC police officers.