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Records/Archives in the News Part 02 01/18/00



Records/Archives in the News r991215a
There are 3 stories in this posting.

Associated Press 12/15/99
New law bans public access to officers? personal information

Washington Post 12/15/99
Files on retarded out of reach

Boston Globe 12/15/99
Open-records advocates criticize refusal to release judge?s records


_______________________________________________________________
Associated Press 12/15/99
New law bans public access to officers? personal information

by Andrew Welsh-Huggins
<snip>
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A law that takes effect Thursday will ban the public 
from receiving personal information about police officers, including their 
addresses, phone numbers and the names of their children and other family 
members. 
Defense attorneys say the law will compromise the ability of lawyers and 
others to investigate police misconduct and discrimination cases. 
But Mike Taylor, spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, said 
the law removes a basic concern expressed by many officers. 
?Now law enforcement officers can do their job without the fear that the 
person they?re locking up will find out all this personal information and use 
it against them or hold it over their head,? said Taylor, the state FOP?s 
secretary and a Columbus patrol officer. 
The law began life as a Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Scott Oelslager, 
R-Canton, that would allow people to receive public records of any kind in 
Ohio by mail. 
State Rep. Jeff Jacobson, R-Brookville, added the ban on releasing police 
information. 
An exemption allows members of the media to receive officers? names, 
addresses and the name and address of any public agency employing the 
officer?s spouse, ex-spouse or child. 
The law also prohibits jail or prison inmates from receiving most records 
regarding a criminal investigation or prosecution. 
Fred Gittes, a Columbus lawyer whose firm has successfully investigated 
female and black officers? claims of discrimination in the Columbus Police 
Department, said the law will hinder investigations. 
<SNIP>
<SNIP>
Taylor said two recent court case support the new law?s intent. 
The first involves a February 1998 ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of 
Appeals in the case of undercover Columbus police officers involved in a drug 
investigation of a gang called the Short North Posse. 
The court ruled that releasing the records to a defense attorney created ?a 
substantial risk of serious bodily harm? to the officers since defendants in 
the case apparently received the information. 
The second involves an Ohio Supreme Court ruling in April in a case involving 
a federal public defender?s attempt to receive the personnel files of a Miami 
County sheriff?s detective. 
Officers? personal information ?should be protected not only by the 
constitutional right of privacy, but, also, we are persuaded that there must 
be a ?good sense? rule when such information about a law enforcement officer 
is sought by a defendant in a criminal case,? the court said in its ruling. 
The Ohio Newspaper Association fought the state FOP for six years over the 
police information issue. Following the ?good sense? ruling, the association 
reluctantly agreed to the media exemption, realizing Jacobson?s bill would 
likely become law, said Frank Deaner, the association?s executive director. 
<SNIP>
<SNIP>
Ann Fenley is a professional genealogist in Dayton whose unsuccessful attempt 
to receive death records from the Ohio Historical Society by mail led to the 
original bill. 
Fenley said on Wednesday that she?s pleased the law addresses the concerns 
she raised. 
On the other hand, she doesn?t like the ban affecting police information and 
prisoners? rights to investigative files. 
?It?s typical of what?s happening as far as open records issues go,? she 
said. ?It seems that like every time we get a record opened, there has to be 
a bunch of other ones to be closed.? 
<SNIP>

_______________________________________________________________
Washington Post 12/15/99
Files on retarded out of reach

by Peter Slevin and Katherine Boo
<SNIP>
Sixteen months after advocates for retarded District residents sought access 
to D.C. Superior Court files?and four months after an exasperated federal 
judge took the rare step of intervening on their behalf?the local court has 
not complied. 
The records are essential to hundreds of former residents of the District?s 
decrepit Forest Haven asylum. In a broken system of care, defenders of the 
retarded want to know which of them have attorneys and which do not, which 
ones are competently represented and which are not. 
Much of the information has always been within reach, in the file rooms of 
Superior Court. But gaining access to the records has proved impossible for 
advocates and now for a U.S. District judge who wants to resolve a 
23-year-old class-action lawsuit. 
The duel over the court files illustrates how the fate of the District?s 
retarded people often hinges on small details and decisions. 
Many months into the dispute, for example, Superior Court clerks told 
attorneys that they could retrieve only four files each day, despite the need 
to review 760 cases. One Superior Court judge said the effort would cost more 
money than the court could afford: $2,675. 
At another point, Superior Court Chief Judge Eugene N. Hamilton promised a 
response within days. Weeks went by, but Senior U.S. District Judge Stanley 
S. Harris said he never heard from Superior Court again. 
A recent Washington Post investigation found 350 documented cases of abuse 
and 116 unexamined deaths of group home residents in an industry pocked by 
corporate fraud and government neglect. The District?s network of homes and 
day programs, which spends about $100,000 annually per client, is among the 
costliest in the nation. 
The dispute over the court files appears emblematic of the way D.C. 
authorities have failed the onetime residents of Forest Haven. What Harris 
terms the ?unwillingness? of Superior Court to provide essential information 
adds a district judge?s voice to the chorus of local and federal players who 
have recently criticized the court for poor performance and ineffective 
leadership. 
<SNIP>
<SNIP>
Family Court Presiding Judge Zinora Mitchell-Rankin said in an interview 
yesterday that Superior Court has been slowed by financial troubles and an 
overtaxed staff but is working to fulfill Harris?s demand. 
In February, Harris requested a report on the Superior Court advocacy system. 
That meant locating the lawyers, who can earn $1,300 or more a year 
representing the interests of the retarded. 
<SNIP>
<SNIP>
When court monitor Lydia Williams contacted the lawyers, she discovered that 
many no longer accepted court appointments?some because they were frustrated 
with the court?s slow payment habits. Others knew nothing of their clients? 
special rights under the federal lawsuit?or even that the class-action case 
existed. Only one-third of the wards appeared to have a working attorney. 
<SNIP>
<SNIP>
When Family Court?s Mitchell-Rankin explained that the court?s files were not 
automated, the attorneys volunteered the services of law students. The judge 
rebuffed them, citing crowded courthouse work areas and worries that the 
volunteers would breach confidentiality rules. 
As efforts stalled, Harris interceded. 
Mitchell-Rankin stood him up once without explanation, he said. Then she said 
it would take 168 hours of overtime to review the 760 files and explained 
that Superior Court?which has an annual budget of $121 million?could not 
afford the $2,675 cost. Harris, declining to underwrite the expense, said the 
volunteer law student idea ?seemed eminently feasible.? 
Mitchell-Rankin promised to confer with Chief Judge Hamilton and report back. 
She never did. Harris then spoke with Hamilton, who said he was aware of the 
issue and would contact Harris within a few days. Hamilton never got back in 
touch. 
When Forest Haven class-action attorneys sought to review the files one by 
one, Superior Court officials denied them access, contending that only the 
individual attorneys?whose very names the lawyers were seeking?could review 
the material. Harris called the court?s policy ?wholly illogical.? 
On Aug. 20, Harris expressed his ?acute disappointment? and ordered Superior 
Court to make the files available. He called the history of the dispute 
?rather remarkable.? 
?To me, this is like a non-issue,? Mitchell-Rankin countered in an interview 
yesterday. ?We?ve never been obstreperous. We?ve said from the very beginning 
that we?re prepared to provide the information. Hopefully, with one more day 
of overtime, we will be completed.? 
<SNIP>


_________________________________________________________________
Boston Globe 12/15/99
Open-records advocates criticize refusal to release judge?s records

by Laurie Asseo
Associated Press
<SNIP>
WASHINGTON (AP) A federal judicial committee?s refusal to release financial 
records of about 1,600 federal judges and magistrates to a news organization 
that wants to put them on the Internet has been criticized by open-records 
advocates. 
APBnews.com, which sought the reports, said Tuesday it plans to sue to gain 
access to them. ??It?s time to take the court to court, and we will do so as 
quickly as we can,?? said Mark Sauter, the organization?s chief operating 
officer. 
Publishing reports on the Internet would not let judges determine whether 
releasing the information would create a security risk, the judges? committee 
said in a statement released by the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts. 
??Federal judges have unique security concerns,?? said David Sellers, 
spokesman for the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts. ??That?s why last 
year Congress provided the Judicial Conference with special authority 
regarding the release of their financial disclosure reports. Any action that 
threatens, compromises or negates this authority must be taken very 
seriously.?? 
??It?s an absurd result,?? said Gregg Leslie, acting executive director of 
the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. ??This really is going way 
beyond any sort of reasonable protection of safety.?? 
The judicial panel lifted a two-week-old temporary moratorium on other public 
access to the reports filed each year by all federal judges. But the 
statement by the Administrative Office implied that any request for 
information that mentions a plan to post the reports on the Internet will be 
rejected. 
However, requesters typically are not required to disclose their 
dissemination plans. The reports are routinely made available to any 
requesters who identify themselves and disclose their occupation. 
??This may be the first time that the government has declared the Internet 
off-limits for specific kinds of public documents,?? said Sauter of 
APBnews.com, which had paid $2,516 to copy 12,580 pages of documents. ??These 
documents contain information that Congress has declared the public has the 
right and need to know.?? 
Paul McMasters of the Freedom Forum added, ??I?m very disappointed that the 
judges didn?t use the time they had ... to regain their freedom-of- 
information footing.?? The reports ??have information about financial 
dealings of judges and that shouldn?t pose a physical threat to judges,?? he 
said. 
<SNIP>






PETER A. KURILECZ CRM, CA
PAKURILECZ@AOL.COM

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