IP: Killed by Police? Keep it Secret

["Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>]

From: believer@telepath.com
Subject: IP: Killed by Police? Keep it Secret
Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 10:12:07 -0500
To: believer@telepath.com

Source:  Rocky Mountain News
http://www.insidedenver.com/news/0919secr1.shtml

Secrecy pushed in killings
by police 

But critics say names of officers should always
be made public 

By Kevin Vaughan
Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

A move is afoot in Colorado to keep the names of
police officers who shoot people secret.

A Greeley judge this week ruled that the public has no
right to know which officers shot and killed four
people over the past two years.

"That seems like sort of the ultimate double standard
to me, because I can shoot and kill someone in my
house in self-defense, and my name will be open as a
matter of public record," said Chris Cobler, managing
editor of the Greeley Tribune.

The paper had sued the Greeley Police Department,
the Weld County Sheriff's Department and the district
attorney's office to obtain the officers' names.

At least one legislator praised Weld District Judge
Jonathan Hays' Wednesday ruling.

"I am strongly opposed to releasing the names of
those officers that have not been found accountable,
or found guilty, in a shooting," said state Sen. Ken
Arnold, R-Westminster.

Arnold spent 28 years with the Colorado State Patrol
before becoming a lawmaker.

The State Patrol and most other Colorado police
agencies release the names of officers involved in
shootings -- some agencies immediately, others in
weeks or months.

But newspaper editors and the American Civil
Liberties Union worry that the disclosure practice may
soon end because of the ruling.

In Aurora, Police Chief Vern Saint Vincent has
refused to identify two officers who killed a gunman in
a domestic dispute a week ago, citing the same legal
provisions the Greeley judge used.

Saint Vincent said his decision is temporary, and he
plans to identify the officers after investigating threats
against them.

But he may change his mind. He said he expects his
officers to lobby for secrecy and that he'll consider it.

"There simply can't be a right to privacy for someone
with the full authority of a law enforcement officer
who has used deadly force against a citizen," said
Tom Kelley, an attorney for the Colorado Press
Association. "You could make the argument that
anyone accused of a crime has a right to privacy,
which I don't think anyone would take very seriously."

At issue is the interpretation of two state laws
governing the release of public records and
criminal-justice documents. The laws spell out what
the public has a right to see.

Hays ruled that police shootings are not "official
actions" as defined by the Criminal Justice Records
Act. As such, they fall under an area of the law that
allows police and sheriff's departments to withhold
information that is "contrary to the public interest."

Identifying the officers, Hays wrote, "plays no
significant, positive role in the functioning of the
criminal-justice process."

But one of the state's top cops doesn't see it that way.

"I just have this problem with the idea that that should
be a blanket policy," said Pat Ahlstrom, executive
director of the state Department of Public Safety.
"We don't see it that way. They're public officers, and
the act of using force and deadly force is subject to
public scrutiny."

The department oversees the State Patrol and the
Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

A check of other law enforcement agencies in the
Denver area found that all routinely release the names
of officers in shootings.

"There's really no reason for us not to release the
names," said Adams County sheriff's Sgt. Mike
Kercheval.

Different agencies have different rules about when the
names are released. For some, it comes within 24
hours of a shooting. Others wait longer.

Lakewood, for example, withholds the name of an
officer involved in a shooting until the investigation is
finished. 

"It is the same procedure that is afforded any citizen in
Lakewood that is investigated in a shooting," police
spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough said. "For us, it is not
a matter of 'if.' It is simply a matter of 'when."'

Cobler said the Tribune has no plan to appeal this
week's ruling.

But others said they expect an effort to change it,
either through an appeal or by attempting to change
the laws to make them clearer.

"Let's change the statute," said Mark Silverstein, legal
director of the ACLU of Colorado.

Arnold, however, said he trusts police and
prosecutors to investigate shootings thoroughly.

September 19, 1998 
-----------------------
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
-----------------------




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