FC: New Jersey proposes to ban public from state police records

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

See related Politech article on giving police more rights than other people:

"Washington state senate moves to ban publishing info on police"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03131.html

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Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 08:24:10 -0500
To: declan () well com
From: "J.D. Abolins" <jda-ir () njcc com>
Subject: NJ proposes to shield NJ State Police records

Yesterday's (Wed) Newark, NJ Star Ledger carried a front page article about 
the proposal to designate as confidential certain information about NJ 
State Police troopers. Thus, the information will be shielded from public 
information requests just as NJ has enacted a significant change to the 
public info access laws.

The proponents of this shielding claim it is to protect the privacy of the 
state troopers and their families. (Echoes of Kirkland, WA.) The shielding 
supporters also claim it is needed to give the state police an opportunity 
to work on itself to deal with issues such as the racial profiling.

The proposal would also shield police cruiser videotapes from discovery in 
lawsuits brought by the public. It would not, however, shield the tapes and 
other information needed by defrense in criminal cases.

The full article can be found for next few days at:
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-0/10141998094603.xml

J.D. Abolins
Meyda Online -- Infosec & Privacy Studies
http://www.MeydaOnline.com

---------- Web page snippet ----------

State tries to shield records of troopers
   Tapes of traffic stops included in proposal

   Wednesday, February 20, 2002
   BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG
   Star-Ledger Staff

   Virtually all records on individual State Police officers, including the
   videotapes they make on patrol, would be confidential under a regulation
   proposed yesterday by the Attorney General's Office.

   The department said the new rule is needed to protect the privacy of
   state troopers and their families while allowing the State Police to
   take a hard look at itself as it works to eradicate racial profiling.

[...]
   Critics, including representatives of the state's newspaper publishers
   and New Jersey Citizen Action, said the proposal goes too far and would
   shield information the public deserves to know.

[...]

   The proposed regulation would primarily shield information the State
   Police are required to compile under a December 1999 consent decree with
   the U.S. Department of Justice to end racial profiling. That includes
   the videotapes made of all highway stops.

   "If we had a blanket rule that they were public, we would lose the
   essential support of troopers that we need," Farmer said.

[...]

   The rule also would block release of highway stop videotapes to people
   seeking to sue the State Police over discrimination or other alleged
   wrongdoing. They would need a judge's order to break through the
   confidentiality rule. The rule could not, however, block criminal
   defendants from getting information needed for their defense.

[...]

   The move to close State Police records comes as the state is preparing
   to greatly expand public access to government records in general under a
   new law that goes into effect in July. That law allows records to be
   closed by regulation.

<rest of article snipped>





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