Police dept. fails records audit

Correction: In the Aug. 1 edition of the Green River Star, the article “Police Dept. fails records audit,” the incorrect statute was listed governing the release of public documents. The statute listed, 16-4-407, pertains to public meetings and is not applicable to documents. According to 16-4-203, which governs public documents, inspection can be denied if the inspection would be contrary to any state statute (16-4-203 a,i) or federal statute or regulation (16-4-203 a,ii). Regardless of this error, the Green River Police Department did not comply with a request to provide access to a document that is recognized in Wyoming as a publicly viewable record. The Green River Star apologizes for this error.

While a recent public records audit conducted by the Green River Star revealed several governmental agencies willing to help provide public information and documents, not every agency complied with public records requests.

The newspaper’s intern, Lexi Mitchell, visited the Green River Police Department June 7 and requested an officer’s report regarding an arrest. When speaking to the main receptionist at the department, Mitchell said she was asked if she was either a family member of the person involved in the arrest or with a law firm representing the person arrested. Mitchell said she was also required to give a reason for her request and told the receptionist she was curious about the arrest.

Mitchell said the receptionist left the window and spoke with someone in the office, returning with a printed information request form. After completing the form, Mitchell was told the city prosecutor had the document. A week later, Mitchell followed up with the department and was told the prosecuting attorney still had the document and wouldn’t release it until after the arraignment. That was the last time she heard from the department.

“I never heard back,” Mitchell said.

According to Bruce Moats, a Cheyenne-based attorney who works with the Wyoming Press Association on public access issues, officer reports are considered public information. Citing a lawsuit between the Sheridan Press and the city of Sheridan in 1984, Moats said the Wyoming Supreme Court determined officers’ reports were only a report made by an arresting officer, not part of the investigative process and was not exempt from the Wyoming Public Records Act.

Moats also said it doesn’t matter what the reason for seeking a document is because a court or an agency cannot determine what a good or bad reason is, only if the record is considered public or not.

However, the GRPD disagrees with Moats’ assessment. According to Jamie Green, GRPD public relations officer, the only publicly available reports generated by the department are its press releases.

Officers’ reports, she said, are only available to family members involved in an incident or attorneys.

She said the GRPD’s rules are dictated by state statute, but was unable to cite the specific statute.

According to Wyoming Public Records laws, Statute 16-4-407 states “if the provisions of this act conflict with any other statute, the provisions of this act shall control.”

Moats said this statement means the public records act takes precedence over other statutes it may conflict with.

Records custodians have to consider the Wyoming Public Records Act before any other statute when receiving a public records’ request.

Moats said he’s hearing more issues involving public records, saying portions of the law that were understood by records’ custodians are crumbling away, which has caused some fallback in complying with the act.