NEW YORK, NY May 23, 2007 —For the 3rd time this year, Federal Judge James Francis has ruled that the city should make public documents the NYPD generated to help secure the 2004 Republican National Convention. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

In the latest order, Judge Francis ruled that the city must release all the material related to the NYPD's 2004 Republican National Convention intelligence gathering. That would include audio and video recordings, e-mail messages and computer files. The tug-of-war over the documents are part of litigation brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of several individuals who allege they were illegally arrested and detained by the police during the RNC protests.

NYCLU lawyers made this latest request only after they deposed Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence David Cohen and learned more about the scale of the NYPD intel program. However, the latest round of materials will not be released until Judge Francis considers the city's claim that their release would compromise ongoing law enforcement investigations and/or intelligence gathering. For WNYC, I’m Bob Hennelly.