Mayor Bill de Blasio recently called on the State Legislature to rewrite a 40-year-old law that has been interpreted as barring the public release of just about any information from the employment histories of police officers — even some who have committed crimes. The law, the only one of its kind in the nation, is indeed overly broad. But Mr. de Blasio, who ran for office as a champion of transparency, has more latitude in interpreting it than he has thus far used.

For example, his administration has shut down access to certain Police Department records that had been available to the news media for decades. The records, called “personnel orders,” include information about disciplinary actions, changes in duty and retirements. Officials argued that the city was forced to close access to comply with the statute it now wants reformed. But a state judge offered a more expansive reading of that law last year when she ordered the city to release summaries of misconduct findings against the police officer who used a chokehold in the 2014 arrest of Eric Garner that led to Mr. Garner’s death.

The findings had been made by the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent agency with subpoena power that investigates and makes recommendations in disciplinary matters. They were limited in scope and dealt only with misconduct that was found to have occurred.