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CAPITOL
City argues for open police hearings
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    Schenectady took its fight against accused police officers to a higher court Friday, where the police union argued that discipline must be kept secret from the public.
    That runs counter to the city’s laws, which say disciplinary hearings must be public.
    The hearings that led to the removal of eight officers last year were all held behind closed doors after the union got a court injunction to keep them secret. The city appealed that injunction, issued by Supreme Court Judge Barry Kramer.
    On Friday, a panel of fi ve justices from the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court heard the appeal.
    Schenectady’s Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden argued for the public’s right to know. All public officers — from city attorneys to police — must be held to a high standard by the public, he said.
    “We are not free from scrutiny and we shouldn’t be,” he said, adding that the public must also vote on politicians who order or withhold discipline.
    “Whether the mayor did the right thing, whether discipline of police officers is being done vindictively … these are issues with which the public must grapple,” he said. “The public should know all of this so they can scrutinize the officers and so they can scrutinize the people meteing out the discipline.”
    Justice Edward O. Spain asked Van Norden whether a hearing could be open to the public without revealing prior disciplinary records, which the Civil Rights Law says must remain confi dential. Van Norden said it could easily be done.
    “The hearing officer has authority to say, ‘I’ll look at these records privately,’ or ‘We’ll view this testimony without cameras or media in the room,’ ” Van Norden said. ..................>>>>...................>>>>...............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00902&AppName=1