“One shouldn’t be able to dress like a cop, act like a cop and not be considered a cop and held accountable,” Public Defender Janet Perrotti argued before the commission, and its members agreed.

“In my opinion, they are the functional equivalent of a public agency,” said Andrew O’Keefe, the commission’s chairman, referring to the 80-member Yale police force.

The ruling means the records of the Yale Police Department, except where specifically exempted by state or federal law, are public and open to inspection.

Colleen Murphy, the executive director of the FOI and the hearing officer in the case, had recommended that the department be ordered to give Perrotti the personnel files of two Yale police officers who arrested Perrotti’s now 16-year-old client for riding his bicycle on a city sidewalk in front of his high school.

“I’m just happy for my kid. Maybe Yale police will think twice before” making a similar arrest, Perrotti said of the incident last May, during which she believes there was no probable cause to stop the teen.

The black teenager was charged with breach of peace and jailed for a short time after being picked up by Yale officers Brian Donnelly and Chris Cofrancesco outside the Cooperative High School at 444 Orange St..

“I can’t remember one case where a Yale police officer arrested a Yale student for riding a bicycle on the sidewalk,” Perrotti said.

Aaron Bayer, an attorney with Wiggin and Dana, who was representing Yale before the FOI commission, conceded that the Yale police, who have full arrest powers throughout the city, meet the governmental function standard as required by the FOI statute, but he disagreed with Murphy on several other criteria.

He said there was no determination yet on whether Yale would appeal the decision, but Perrotti said she expects that it will be challenged.

Bayer asked the commission, if it ruled against Yale, to narrow the application of the case to the two officers in question and not all personnel in the department. “This is a very broadly written final conclusion,” he said.

Bayer said Yale is concerned with the privacy of its employees, and used the example of the secretaries in the police department, who may not appreciate being considered public employees.

O’Keefe, at one point during the testimony, asked Bayer to stick with the case. “Let’s not raise red herrings,” O’Keefe said.

Murphy found that the Yale Police Department was created by government, going back to 1894, when the New Haven department assigned two officers to put down disturbances between city residents and students, with the arrangement between the departments formalized by the state legislature in 1983.

She said the Yale department has control of disciplinary matters for its officers by agreement with New Haven. The city’s police commissioners actually appoint the Yale officers.

The city’s Police Department, through a memorandum, also is involved in the day-to-day activities of Yale police, and while the Yale police receive minimal direct government funding, they benefit from “significant” in-kind services from New Haven.

Perrotti, pointing to the value of Yale’s tax-exempt status, said if the university had to pay taxes on its police headquarters, assessed at $5.6 million in 2007, the amount would be in excess of $200,000.

She said the university gets some $430 million in federal funds, therefore satisfying the government funding rule, an argument Bayer rejected.

“Yale police officers should be accountable to the citizens of New Haven. Yale University should not be opposed to this. Accountability and openness will breed an atmosphere of professionalism,” Perrotti said.

Mary E. O’Leary can be reached at 789-5731 or moleary@nhregister.com.