Access to Police Records

Today, the Savannah Morning News printed a front page article stating that SCMPD was limiting access to preliminary police reports. Nothing could be further from the truth.

SCMPD has simply removed a "media clipboard" from the front desk of police headquarters that had copies of un-redacted preliminary reports. This clipboard was available to anyone who asked, and with the advent of 'non traditional media', such as blogs and many news websites, to deny access to a 'news gathering organization' (which is not defined in the Georgia Open Records Act) opened a whole new can of worms.

The reason for the removal of the clipboard is that SCMPD is moving to filing all preliminary reports via computer. There are a growing number of officers who have laptops in their cars, and they file reports electronically. Within the next year, all officers should be filing electronically. Eliminating the written reports will save money, time and materials; and will make it easier for reporters and the public to access reports, since there will be no delay in getting a copy of a report - whereas in the past, if an incident occurred on a Friday, you may have had to wait until the next Tuesday before the report made it in the system.

In addition, there was a huge concern that private information (such as Social Security Numbers, birth dates, juvenile information, etc.) that is generally redacted (removed), was available on these preliminary reports. In today's world of identity theft, every citizen who has ever filed a report with police and every parent of a juvenile who has been in trouble with the law, will be happy to know their personal information is no longer available to anyone who comes to the front desk and claims to be a member of the media.

The SCMPD Media Advisory Committee discussed this issue back in July. SCMPD spoke with numerous police departments across the country and in Georgia. Not one agency made un-redacted reports available to the media and public.

SCMPD provides access to a Crime Map that is updated every 2-hours on our website, there is a Daily Significant Incident report posted to the web most days before noon, and SCMPD has instituted a news alert system using "Twitter".

SCMPD is in full compliance with the Georgia Open Records Act. Media and the public have full access to police reports - written and electronic.

The fact of the matter is this: SCMPD is using technology to simplify and improve efficiency. The department has put into place accessible personnel and technical innovations to well serve the media, provide accurate information faster, and to provide more information to the public. We hope to be able to provide an on-line report system some time in 2009.

Police recognize the importance of getting information to the media and to the public in a timely manner. To insinuate this department is trying to withhold any information that is lawfully available to the public is absolutely untrue.