NYCLU Files Lawsuit Demanding Police Commissioner Ray Kelly Release Public Schedule

Ray Kelly

The Huffington Post   Christopher Mathias First Posted: 10/18/11 07:01 PM ET Updated: 10/18/11 07:01 PM ET

Perhaps because the NYPD is bigger than the FBI and has anti-aircraft capabilities, The New York Civil Liberties Union believes New Yorkers should at least have the right to know Police Commissioner Ray Kelly's schedule.

They've filed a lawsuit on behalf of Leonard Levitt, a former Newsday reporter who covers the NYPD in an online column, who has repeatedly been denied access to Kelly's whereabouts and told such information could threaten the police commissioner's security, The New York Daily News reports.

"There is no good reason for Commissioner Kelly to withhold this information from the public," NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman told The News. "Even President Obama's public schedule appears every day on the White House's website. If it's safe for the leader of the country to disclose his schedule, then it's safe for the NYPD commissioner to do the same."

The NYPD had no immediate comment.

This isn't the first time New York politicians have been accused of being too elusive.

Capital Tonight is always bemoaning Governor Cuomo's lack of a public schedule.

And last year, City Councilman Peter Vallone failed to pass legislation that would require a sitting mayor to publicly report travels whenever he or she leaves the continental U.S. or is more than 250 miles from the city for longer than 24 hours. As New York prepared for the blizzard last year, Mayor Bloomberg was, unbeknownst to city officials, vacationing in his Bermuda bungalow. Bloomberg later apologized for his administration's botched response to the snowstorm.

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Perhaps because the NYPD is bigger than the FBI and has anti-aircraft capabilities, The New York Civil Liberties Union believes New Yorkers should at least have the right to know Police Commissioner R...
Perhaps because the NYPD is bigger than the FBI and has anti-aircraft capabilities, The New York Civil Liberties Union believes New Yorkers should at least have the right to know Police Commissioner R...
 
 
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08:47 AM on 10/19/2011
Silly civil liberties group. NYPD is Above The Law!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
El Chingaso
Fighting for mental superiority...
06:15 AM on 10/19/2011
Is he...scared?
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04:47 AM on 10/19/2011
SUING THE POLICE IS POINTLESS.

POLICE ESCAPE UNHARMED.

THE MONETARY AWARD WILL EVENTUALLY COME FROM TAX PAYER'S MONEY.

IT'S TIME TO DEFUND THE PARAMILTIARY POLICE IN AMERICA.

WHO ARRESTS THE POLICE WHEN POLICE BREAK THE LAW???????????????

OCTOBER22-NY.ORG
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jonnyquest
here to tell the truth
09:22 PM on 10/18/2011
Try Rao's the mob owned front where money laundering has been perfected. You can see Ray there eating next to a few members of "the family". Great law enforcement we have in NYC.
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teachone
Knowledge is Power
07:30 PM on 10/18/2011
Hey,the republicans/teaparty demanded transparency in government, we the people are just demanding the same, transparency in government, they think they have the right to know our Presidents every move, we have the same right to know the NYPD commissioners every move!!!!!!!!!!!!!
06:13 PM on 10/18/2011
NY has a police commissioner? NY has someone watching over those goons-I mean cops?