Request By:
Honorable David Leightty
Assistant Director of Law
City of Louisville Department of Law
Room 200, City Hall
Louisville, Kentucky 40202-2771
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; By: Cicely D. Jaracz, Assistant Attorney General
Major Harold W. Embry, Assistant Fire Marshal, Fire Prevention Bureau for the City of Louisville Division of Fire, has appealed to the Attorney General pursuant to KRS 61.880 your denial of his request to inspect certain records in your custody. Specifically, Major Embry requested to inspect the investigative file of the Department of Law pertaining to allegations of criminal violations made against him by another member of the Division of Fire.
Your response indicated that the Louisville Department of Law, at the request of the Division of Fire, investigated the allegations. All of this information was made available to Major Embry. Additionally, the Division of Fire interviewed employees in the Fire Prevention Bureau. These interviews were tape recorded. You denied access to these recordings pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(a), (g) and (h) as, in your opinion, the recordings constituted preliminary statements and notes prior to a conclusion, were not made pursuant to a formal complaint, and consist of confidential personnel records.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that your denial was proper under the Open Records law.
The tapes of employee interviews taken during the investigation of internal criminal allegations against Major Embry are clearly preliminary to any final action taken by the Division of Fire or Department of Law. They are therefore exempt from public inspection (except upon court order) under KRS 61.878(1)(g) and (h) which provide exemption for:
(g) Preliminary drafts, notes, correspondence with private individuals, other than correspondence which is intended to give notice of final action of a public agency.
(h) Preliminary recommendations, and preliminary memoranda in which opinions are expressed or policies formulated or recommended.
Should the tapes later become incorporated into any final action taken by the investigating agencies, they then become open to public inspection.
It is therefore the opinion of the Attorney General that the tape recordings of the employee interviews pertaining to the internal investigation are not open to public inspection as they constitute preliminary notes and preliminary memoranda containing opinions.
As directed by statute, a copy of this opinion is being sent to the requestor, who may initiate further proceedings pursuant to KRS 61.880(5).