1st amendment group wants allegations of police misconduct made public

CONCORD - The New England First Amendment Coalition recently appeared before a New Hampshire state commission to recommend ways to increase transparency within law enforcement agencies.
"The sunshine these efforts are headed for certainly show the good work that police officers do 99 percent of the time as well as weeding out the bad conduct," said attorney Gregory V. Sullivan on behalf of the coalition, adding that "it's not just the bad police officers that we can look at but their supervisors as well."
Sullivan, a NEFAC board member, testified on Thursday during a hearing of the Commission on Law Enforcement Accountability, Community and Transparency. The commission is tasked with making recommendations to Gov. Chris Sununu about reforming law enforcement agencies in the state.
In addition to providing testimony at the hearing, Sullivan also submitted written comments on behalf of NEFAC and Union Leader Corp., where he serves as general counsel. In an Aug. 19 letter to the commission, Sullivan wrote: "Transparency and accountability of law enforcement is perhaps more important today than ever. One needs only to turn on the television or computer to learn that communities across this nation innately distrust their local, state and federal governments, and, in particular, the police forces tasked to protect and serve those communities. Such distrust is clearly born from the lack of accountability and transparency, perceived or actual, from law enforcement agencies."
NEFAC noted that:

Allegations of police misconduct must be publicly disclosed regardless of whether disciplinary action is taken.

The state's "Laurie List," a secret list of New Hampshire police officers with questionable credibility, must be considered a public record under the state's Right to Know Law.
A public and independent oversight agency must be established to periodically certify and discipline officers when appropriate.