From The Lexington Herald-Leader Editorial Board:

"The Kentucky State Police has long been an island unto itself; created in statute to be untouchable, they remain out of touch to mere mortals, including the ink-stained wretches who file numerous open records requests for information about them and the investigations they undertake.

"What's absurd is that the agency would not recognize on its own that the time has come to adopt what nearly everyone considers the gold standard in accountability. In this post-George Floyd and Breonna Taylor time, police departments are in trouble all over the country. Kentucky State Police have had a particularly bad year, what with some Manual High School students finding Nazi language in training materials.

"But the other big problem is that the lack of transparency and accountability at the Kentucky State Police affects other departments as well because when requested, KSP investigates officer-involved shootings in local departments, including Lexington and Louisville.

"Sometimes they release information about these cases. Mostly, they don't. Their disdain for the state's open records law then aids and abets a lack of transparency on the part of local law enforcement.

"Those who vow to protect and serve should be more interested in telling the public about their faults and those of other police departments. The thin blue line of silence serves no one, particularly not police themselves. It's time for them to do better and develop a 'standard operating procedure'

on transparency and accountability. Being accountable to no one serves no one well."

Well said.