State Police in West Virginia deny freedom of information requests, which has become the "norm" for similar requests in many police departments nationwide.
The Charleston Gazette filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the West Virginia State Police on Wednesday, asking for records detailing how the agency handles allegations of abuse and misconduct.
Since 2006, State Police troopers have been accused of police brutality at least seven times and sexual assault at least twice. None of the allegations have resulted in charges against a trooper.
The lawsuit, filed in Kanawha Circuit Court, requests reports produced by the department's professional standards section and comes after requests for the public information from State Police and the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety were repeatedly denied.
In a letter to the Gazette last month, Assistant Attorney General John A. Hoyer, who represents the State Police, argued that the records couldn't be released because state law forbids it. He cited the state Freedom of Information Act, which says that information can be withheld if it is of a personal nature "such as that kept in a personal, medical or similar file."
Hoyer also cited a second provision in the act that says records can be withheld if they are "records of law-enforcement agencies that deal with the detection and investigation of crime and the internal records and notations of such law-enforcement agencies which are maintained for internal use in matters relating to law enforcement."
Link: http://wvgazette.com/News/201011031152