Kentucky Open Government Coalition co-director Scott Horn shares his thoughts on a recent open records dispute with the Lexington Police Department.

"The Lexington Police Department is the latest public agency to decide that self-serving internal policies outweigh state transparency laws. Now, even blank copies of complaint forms are too 'sensitive' for them to share with the public without substantial alteration.

https://www.lexingtonky.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/Complaint%20Pro…

A recent open records request filed with the LPD for a blank copy of its Formal Complaints form was treated like a request for state secrets. Every field blacked out, a large watermark across the page, obscuring the labels of data being recorded. The LPD did not initially offer any explanation for the redactions in its response – a requirement under the open records law -- instead asserting that 'In order to file a formal complaint… you must appear in person at the following location: Lexington Police Department, 150 E. Main Street.' No mention either of an alternate path offered in its policy outlined online: a visit to the LFUCG Council Clerk.

"After some pressing, the LPD confirmed that they altered the form to 'prevent this version of the form from being filled out. Therefore, it is not necessary for us to apply any KRS exemptions to our response.'

"The real issue? Under state law public records belong to the public. The General Assembly has outlined narrow exceptions to the public's right to records held by government agencies. None of them apply to blank complaint forms.

"Not that any of this comes as a surprise. Kentucky's sunshine laws have been regularly trampled by its largest police departments, which seem more interested in keeping secrets and shaping narratives than in giving the public a full picture of their activities. To make matters worse, our current Attorney General, given the responsibility to judge open records disputes brought by citizens, regularly ignores 50 years of legal authority in his rush to rubber stamp law enforcement secrecy.

"Louisville's WDRB recently hit this roadblock. Cameron affirmed the Louisville Metro Police Department's denial of access to the names of homicide officers that were investigated for an alleged alcohol-fuelled "Irish Funeral" held while many were on-duty. The Courier-Journal learned last year in its Breonna Taylor reporting that Cameron's Office would be no ally in enforcing open records laws. Now they, and others, take their law enforcement records disputes to the courts.

https://www.wdrb.com/in-depth/wdrb-sues-lmpd-for-withholding-records-ab…

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2020/05/27/breonna-taylor-sh…

"This problem is not new, but with added public awareness from the social justice movement combined with an overly police-friendly Attorney General, law enforcement agencies are choosing to dig in their heels rather than meet our state open records laws.The Kentucky State Police and LMPD may have earned more press coverage for their open records violations, but the Lexington's Police Department is vying for its own position as a public agency that is oblivious to the value of open, accountable government.

"In the recent case of an LPD Police Cruiser hitting an autistic teenager, Chief Weathers initially withheld video, telling the city council he did not want to release it before he could comment on what his investigation found. Later, heavily edited videos were released along with the official narrative of what the records revealed. Last year, the LPD rushed to release body cam video that it believed cleared its officers of charges of using an illegal chokehold, while withholding video of peaceful protestors who were arrested. Kentucky's open records law is clear on when police video can be withheld. Favorable public relations and agency 'spin' are not among them.

https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article2504…

https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article2441…

https://www.kentucky.com/latest-news/article243132896.html

"With public confidence in police at historic lows, transparency is critical to rebuilding community faith in law enforcement. It is past time that we as a commonwealth demand that law enforcement officials respect all of the laws they are sworn to uphold, even though they 'may cause inconvenience or embarrassment to public officials or others.'

https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=23058

"The Lexington Police Department does little to promote public trust by altering a nonexempt public record – in this recent case, a blank form – without legally recognized justification."