This story is being co-published by the Delaware Call and the Invisible Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit public accountability journalism organization.
How easy should it be for a police officer who has left one department due to misconduct to get a job with another? And does the public have a right to know about that officer’s checkered past?
Despite passage of two police reform bills in 2023, Delaware remains one of just 15 states that keeps data about police officers that the state has certified, and where they work, secret, according to a nationwide reporting project.
This makes it impossible for citizens and journalists alike to monitor the state’s oversight of so-called “wandering officers” who switch departments only to continue patterns of aggressive behavior toward civilians.
Now, Delaware’s culture of police secrecy is being challenged in court. A lawsuit filed last week on behalf of Delaware Call is seeking data held by the state Police Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST), which tracks all law enforcement officers currently working in Delaware, and which agencies employ and have employed them.
It’s some of the most basic information about public employees that most states around the country release — including Delaware’s neighbors Maryland and New Jersey.