Cuomo signs package of ‘nation-leading’ police reform laws

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law Friday a sweeping package of police reforms that he described as the most aggressive in the nation, criminalizing choke holds and compelling police departments to disclose disciplinary records. The batch of bills repeals a controversial statute known as “50-a” that localities have used to shield police disciplinary records from the public. The reforms also authorize the state Attorney General’s Office to set up an investigatory unit to probe police-involved shootings and misconduct and prosecute when appropriate any incident in which a person dies at the hands of a police officer. "These are issues that the country has been talking about for a long...