Police department's claim they can't release public records as it might supply terrorists with information is disgraceful.

Washington, DC - A District of Columbia judge has ordered the release of documents related to police policies in a blistering ruling that accused the department of making “transparently false” statements in an effort to keep the records private.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund requested policies and special orders showing how police in the nation’s capital exercise their authority.

The nonprofit advocacy group submitted a public records request in 2008, then sued the following year after the department refused to provide the records. Two department officials, including Assistant Chief Patrick Burke, said in sworn statements that releasing the requested documents would endanger the public and risked supplying criminals and terrorists with information that could hinder investigations.

The officials had said they determined the documents had to be withheld because there was no logical or meaningful way to exempt certain portions.

But Superior Court Judge Judith Macaluso sharply criticized that blanket response as “melodramatic” and “transparently false,” and said she had “great concern with the credibility” of the two officials, according to a transcript of last Friday’s hearing.

The judge also lambasted a lawyer for the city who submitted the statements, threatening to call his boss, Attorney General Irvin Nathan, if the office made a similar mistake again. The lawyer, Chad Copeland, apologized at the hearing and said he recognized he had erred.

“You can’t just make things up and sign under penalty of perjury, and that’s what they’ve done in this case,” Verheyden-Hilliard, who said the refusal to provide the documents amounted to “really appalling conduct.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-judge-orders-police-to-release-policy-documents-in-ruling-that-chastises-department/2012/03/15/gIQA1eGKES_story.html

City refuses to turn over investigation into officer misconduct.

Yakima, WA. - A Yakima police officer is accused of misconduct and put on paid leave. City officials won’t turn over reports explaining why.

After learning earlier this month that Sgt. Erik Hildebrand had been placed on leave, the Yakima Herald-Republic filed a public records request March 9 seeking a copy of the police department’s internal investigation of the officer.

But city officials refuse to release it, saying an exemption in the state Public Records Act allows them to retain records in an active investigation.
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2012/03/17/city-refuses-to-turn-over-investigation-into-officer-misconduct