Another important legal challenge is underway in Louisville as The Courier Journal again goes to court to vindicate the public's right of access to law enforcement records.
The defendant in this case is the Shively Police Department and the records withheld, on the flimsiest pretext, relate to a July 27 triple fatality car crash involving a high speed chase that occurred a few hours after a change in departmental pursuit policies.
Shively PD denied the newspaper's request for dash and body camera footage, 911 calls, radio communications, and incident reports relating to the multiple fatality collision. The agency argued that disclosure would "harm the agency" by revealing "the identity of informants not otherwise known" or by "premature release of information to be used in a prospective law enforcement action."
In other words, the department parroted the language of the open records exception, KRS 61.878(1)(h), and made no effort to substantiate its position by "articulat[ing] a factual basis for applying it," i.e. that "because of the record's content, its release poses a concrete risk of harm to the agency in the prospective action."
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=48230
Attorney Michael Abate, who represents The Courier, characterized the denial as "another example of a police department grossly misusing the exceptions in the Open Records Act. They pretend that since there's a pending criminal case, they can withhold every piece of evidence in the matter."
Courier editor Richard Green, amplified on Abate's statement, observing, "Kentucky's Open Records Act applies to all public agencies, including police departments, and not only when it's convenient. Kentucky taxpayers, our readers, and most definitely those affected by this tragedy deserve answers, not excuses, from Shively Police,"
"Good policing," Green asserted, "works best when it's conducted by the light of day, not in the shadows of obfuscation. There are important questions about this incident that deserve answers. We expect Shively to release the public's information about what happened."
Sadly, not without a hard fought legal battle reaffirming the rule of law that public agencies across Kentucky conveniently ignore: "A Police Department's Investigatory File is Not Categorically Exempt From Disclosure Under the Open Records Act Merely Because it Pertains To a Prospective Enforcement Action."
