Published: July 02, 2008 11:44 pm      

Access granted to reports

Local law enforcement agencies comply to new law with ease

The Meridian Police Department and Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department readily complied this week to a new state law that makes law enforcement incident reports public record.

Both agencies provided full reports — complete with narrative descriptions of the incidents — within an hour of the requests.

"The information that is released through the initial incident report in the case will not affect the investigation of that case," said Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie Wednesday. "I don't see where anything will change for us."

The new law clarifies that incident reports are public records. The reports through a narrative will give basic information when someone

is arrested, such as who is involved and where and when an alleged crime took place. The bill was pushed by the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information and other open-government groups. Law officers can withhold names of confidential informants.

House Judiciary A Chairman Ed Blackmon Jr., D-Canton, tried for several years to pass similar legislation but said it takes time to hash out all the details to everyone's satisfaction.

"This bill was produced to help the victims of crime and the general public get the information they need more quickly and efficiently," Blackmon said of House Bill 474. "There wasn't any particular agency or segment of the community who fought against this. It just took us a while for a compromise to be reached."

The much improved accessibility of the public, and that of the media, to provide more details to the public through the reports is something state advocates of the Freedom of Information Act along with the Mississippi Press Assocation have been seeking for in recent years.

Center for Freedom of Information Director Jeanni Atkins said, "what we ended up with is something that we can live with and something that law enforcement can live with."

Meridian Star Executive Editor Fredie Carmichael said, "I'm proud to say both the Meridian Police Department and the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department set the tone for other agencies in the state to follow in regards to compliance with this new state law.

"I think they sent the message that they believe in the importance of being open to the public," Carmichael said. "The incident reports, particularly the narrative, will provide us an added tool to access needed information that will, in short, allow us to ensure our readers are more informed about crime in their communities."