Redacting Sensitive Information From Public Records Can Be Costly
Posted: November 21st, 2009 by Admin
The vast majority of citizens in San Diego believe more police records should be open for public review, and that is understandable, for being law enforcement agency this branch of public power needs to be monitored more closely, as the force by its very definition has higher risks of being abused. Anyway, the proposal to expand the list of types of the police records as part of the campaign for better open government, seems to face quite strong and motivated opposition from behalf of city government and law enforcement officials.
Opponents to the changes argue that more exposure of the police records could create better chances for criminals and perpetrators of all sorts to search for potential victims or take revenge on witnesses scaring many people off from taking the right attitude in critical situation when they are required to witness on serious cases.
During the recent discussion with San Diego’s City Council Sunshine Reform Task Force its members agreed the information per6tinent to witnesses and victims is not simple to tackle, so the issue needs further thoughtful study. Problems occur when an unusually big volume of the police public records are asked for, because reviewing documents and erasing sensible data from the texts is to be paid for from the city budget. Seems, it’s all is just about the price of the issue.
