Who Guards the Guards: Hearst Corp. Seeks Police Records Over Illicit Gun Sales

Do you think if the average Joe bought a machine gun illegally that his or her records would be kept private? What if said buyer were a police officer? The issue might be different, as notes the Albany Times Union, which along with Hearst Corp. (owner of the paper) is trying to get the release of records related to the sales and purchase of “illicit” machineguns by former and current Albany police officers. But there is a hold up the story notes:

“Lawyers for the city and the Albany Police Officers Union, which is part of Council 82, said the records should remain sealed because the officers who possessed the guns may have engaged in misconduct or possibly illegal activity. Therefore, they argued, the records fall into a category of ‘personnel’ files which precludes disclosure under state Civil Service Law because they could be used to evaluate an officer’s employment status.”

Now this could be considered just one side of the story, but let’s consider this fact:

“No officers have been disciplined, arrested or passed over for a promotion due to the gun purchases, according to multiple departmental sources.”

It is also worth noting – at least to us – that Albany is just a couple of hours away from New York City, and yet Big Apple Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn’t said a peep about this story. The mayor has spoken out about illegal gun sales in states hundreds of miles away, targeted gun shows and so-called straw purchases but a sale of truly illegal guns in practically his backyard and he’s quiet on the issue.