Can a New York police department give the Crime Victims Board a copy of a police report, even when the underlying crime is a sex offense or HIV-transmission offense whose victim's identity is confidential under Civil Rights Law § 50-b?

Plain-English summary

The New York State Crime Victims Board (the Board, since reorganized into the Office of Victim Services) determines who is eligible for state compensation after a crime. To do that the Board has to verify the victim's identity, which usually means reading the underlying police report. The Board's general counsel wrote to the AG because some local police departments had pushed back on producing reports, particularly in sex-offense and HIV-transmission cases where Civil Rights Law § 50-b makes the victim's identity confidential.

The AG said the Board is entitled to the reports. The analysis runs through three statutes:

Executive Law § 623(4). This provision specifically lets the Board "request from the division of state police, from county or municipal police departments and agencies and from any other state or municipal department or agency, or public authority" any "assistance and data as will enable the board to carry out its functions and duties," and it authorizes those agencies "to provide" the requested information. The plain text creates the disclosure pathway. The AG analogized to its 1990 opinion on the Public Transportation Safety Board, which had similar "request and receive" language and was found to authorize access to NYC Transit Authority personnel records.

Civil Rights Law § 50-b. Subsection (1) prohibits public inspection of records that would identify a victim of a sex offense or HIV-transmission offense. Subsection (2)(a) carves out disclosure "to the public officers and employees charged with the duty of investigating, prosecuting, keeping records relating to the offense, or any other act when done pursuant to the lawful discharge of their duties." The AG read "any other act . . . done pursuant to the lawful discharge of their duties" as covering the Board, since the Board's statutory job is to verify victim identity in claims for awards. So § 50-b does not block disclosure.

Personal Privacy Protection Law (Public Officers Law § 92). The PPPL restricts state agency disclosure of personal information, but the statute defines "agency" to exclude "any unit of local government," and the AG cited Seelig v. Sielaff, 201 A.D.2d 298 (1st Dep't 1994), to confirm the law does not apply to local police. So a local police department disclosing to the Board is outside the PPPL's reach.

Downstream confidentiality. The Board does not get the records as ordinary public material once it has them. Executive Law § 633(3) requires the Board to maintain the same confidentiality the records carried before transfer. A police report that named a § 50-b victim stays confidential in the Board's hands.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2007. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Does the police department have to produce the report, or is it just allowed to?
The AG said the statute authorizes both the request and the response. The opinion does not opine on whether the agency must produce; it concludes that the agency may, dispelling the legal concern that had been blocking production.

What about FOIL? Does the requester need to go through a Freedom of Information Law request?
No. The opinion treats the Executive Law § 623(4) pathway as a separate statutory mechanism distinct from FOIL. The Board can request directly and the agency can respond directly, without the FOIL access scheme.

Does this apply only to sex-offense and HIV cases?
The opinion addresses those because those are where § 50-b confidentiality might otherwise block disclosure. For any other crime where there is no special-confidentiality overlay, § 623(4) by itself is plenty. The hard cases are the § 50-b cases, and the AG concluded the disclosure exception in § 50-b(2)(a) reaches them.

What happens to the report once the Board has it?
Executive Law § 633(3) carries the original confidentiality forward. The Board cannot republish, post, or release the report under FOIL if the underlying record was confidential. The opinion specifically flags this point.

Could a state-level disclosure work the same way?
A state agency disclosing to the Board would also have to consider the Personal Privacy Protection Law (which does cover state agencies). The opinion does not analyze that scenario directly because the question asked was about local police. The § 50-b analysis would still come out the same way, but the PPPL would need a separate look.

Background and statutory framework

The Crime Victims Board. Established by Executive Law Article 22. The Board (now Office of Victim Services) provides financial assistance to victims of crime. Key powers: hearing and determining claims (§ 623(5)), investigating claim validity (§ 627(2)), determining victim eligibility (§ 624(1)), and requesting cooperation from law enforcement and other government entities (§ 623(4)). Section 633(3) imposes the downstream confidentiality duty: information protected when received stays protected.

Civil Rights Law § 50-b. Enacted to protect victims of sex offenses and offenses involving HIV transmission from public disclosure of their identity. Subsection (1) bars public inspection of records that identify the victim. Subsection (2)(a) lists permitted disclosures, including to public officers acting in the lawful discharge of their duties.

Personal Privacy Protection Law. Public Officers Law Article 6-A regulates disclosure of personal information by state agencies. The definitional section, § 92(1), excludes the judiciary, the legislature, units of local government, and district attorney offices. Seelig v. Sielaff confirmed the local-government exclusion.

Earlier AG guidance. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 90-F7 held that a similar "request and receive" provision in the Public Transportation Safety Board's enabling act let it obtain NYC Transit personnel records. That precedent supported reading § 623(4) as a workable disclosure authorization, not a polite invitation.

Citations

• Executive Law Article 22 (Crime Victims Board); § 623(4) (authority to request data from law enforcement); § 623(5) (hear and determine claims); § 624(1) (eligibility); § 627(2) (investigation); § 633(3) (downstream confidentiality).
• Civil Rights Law § 50-b (sex-offense and HIV-transmission victim confidentiality); § 50-b(1) (public inspection ban); § 50-b(2)(a) (disclosure permitted to public officers in lawful discharge of duty).
• Public Officers Law § 92(1) (Personal Privacy Protection Law "agency" definition, excluding local government); § 92(7) (personal information); § 96 (disclosure restrictions).
• Seelig v. Sielaff, 201 A.D.2d 298 (1st Dep't 1994) (PPPL does not apply to local police).
• Op. Att'y Gen. No. 90-F7 (Public Transportation Safety Board may obtain personnel records under similar "request and receive" statute).

Source

• Landing page: https://ag.ny.gov/libraries-documents/opinions/opinions-year
• Original PDF: https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/opinions/2007-F3_pw.pdf

Original opinion text

Executive Law Article 22, §§ 623(4), 623(5), 624(1), 627(2),
633(3); Civil Rights Law §§ 50-b, 50-b(1), 50-b(2)(a); Public
Officers Law §§ 92(1), 92(7), 96

When requested by the Crime Victims Board in relation to an
investigation into a claim for award, local law enforcement
agencies may provide the Board with police reports, even when the
reported crime involves a sex offense or an offense involving the
alleged transmission of HIV.

August 8, 2007

John Watson
General Counsel
New York State Crime Victims Board
1 Columbia Circle
Suite 200
Albany, New York 12203-6383

Formal Opinion
No. 2007-F3

Dear Mr. Watson:

You have requested an opinion regarding the authority of the Crime Victims Board (the Board) to request and obtain police reports from local law enforcement agencies in New York. The Board has encountered some resistance from local law enforcement agencies in response to its requests for police reports. As explained more fully below, we are of the opinion that, under the circumstances you have described, local law enforcement agencies may provide police reports to the Board when requested by the Board.

Analysis

The Board was established, pursuant to article 22 of the Executive Law, to provide financial assistance to victims of crime. Among its powers and duties, the Board is authorized to "hear and determine all claims for awards" filed with the Board. Executive Law § 623(5). After the Board receives a claim for an award, the Board initiates an investigation into the validity of such claim to determine whether an award may properly be granted. Id. § 627(2). To determine whether the claimant is eligible for an award, the Board must establish the identity of the victim of the reported crime. Id. § 624(1) (specifying persons eligible for an award, including the victim of a crime and certain persons related to or associated with a victim).

You have advised that the police reports are sought to confirm the identity of the crime victim.

Also among its powers, the Board is authorized to

request from the division of state police, from county or municipal police departments and agencies and from any other state or municipal department or agency, or public authority, and the same are hereby authorized to provide, such assistance and data as will enable the board to carry out its functions and duties.

Id. § 623(4).

You have advised that the police reports are necessary for the Board to perform its functions and duties. We therefore are of the opinion that the Board is authorized to request police reports from local law enforcement agencies and local law enforcement agencies are authorized to provide such reports. Cf. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 90-F7 (Public Transportation Safety Board's statutory authority to "request and receive from any . . . public authority such assistance, information and data as will enable the office properly to carry out its powers and duties" authorized it to request and receive personnel records of New York City Transit Authority employees).

You have advised that some local law enforcement agencies have resisted providing the Board with police reports out of concern that doing so may violate Civil Rights Law § 50-b. Section 50-b provides that the identity of a victim of a sex offense or of an offense involving the alleged transmission of HIV shall be confidential. Civil Rights Law § 50-b(1). It prohibits making available for public inspection any report, paper, picture, photograph, court file or other documents in the custody or possession of any public officer or employee that identifies such a victim, and further prohibits the disclosure of such documents that tend to identify such a victim, except as otherwise provided therein. Id. However, it expressly authorizes disclosure to "the public officers and employees charged with the duty of investigating, prosecuting, keeping records relating to the offense, or any other act when done pursuant to the lawful discharge of their duties." Id. § 50-b(2)(a) (emphasis added).

We established above that the Board confirms the identity of a crime victim pursuant to its statutory duty to determine claims for awards. Applying the exception of section 50-b(2)(a), we conclude that Civil Rights Law § 50-b(1) does not prevent local law enforcement agencies from providing the Board with the requested police reports. Our conclusion is based on the unique statutory responsibility the Board has for providing financial assistance to victims of crime.

The Personal Privacy Protection Law limits the disclosure of certain personal information, including names, by agencies. Public Officer Law §§ 92(7), 96. "Agency," for purposes of the Personal Privacy Protection Law, is defined as

any state board, bureau, committee, commission, council, department, public authority, public benefit corporation, division, office or any other government entity performing a governmental or proprietary function for the state of New York, except the judiciary or the state legislature or any unit of local government and shall not include offices of district attorneys.

Id. § 92(1) (emphasis added). Because the question you have asked concerns disclosure by local law enforcement agencies, the Personal Privacy Protection Law is not implicated. See Seelig v. Sielaff, 201 A.D.2d 298 (1st Dep't 1994).

You have recognized, and we emphasize, that to the extent the Board obtains reports or records that are otherwise protected from disclosure by law or regulation, it must maintain the confidentiality of such reports or records subject to such other law or regulation. Executive Law § 633(3).

In summary, we conclude that, when requested by the Board in relation to an investigation into a claim for award, local law enforcement agencies may provide the Board with police reports, even when the reported crime involves a sex offense or an offense involving the alleged transmission of HIV.

Very truly yours,

ANDREW M. CUOMO
Attorney General