In a UNANIMOUS decision, the State of New York Court of Appeals decided in the Matter of New York Civil Liberties Union, Respondent, v. City of Rochester et al., Appellants, "The question on this appeal is whether FOIL’s personal privacy exemption, which was left intact by the 2020 amendments, provides a basis for agencies to categorically withhold all disciplinary records relating to complaints against law enforcement officers that were not deemed substantiated. The answer is NO."
“To promote open government and public accountability, FOIL imposes a broad duty on government agencies to make their records available to the public” (Matter of Abdur-Rashid v New York City Police Dept., 31 NY3d 217, 224 [2018]; Matter of Gould v New York City Police Dept., 89 NY2d 267, 274 [1996]; see Public Officers Law § 84).
The statute is based on the principle that “the public is vested with an inherent right to know and that official secrecy is anathematic to our form of government” (Matter of Fink v Lefkowitz, 47 NY2d 567, 571 [1979]).
See the short decision @ https://www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/Decisions/2025/Feb25/13opn25-Decision.pdf