CPD adheres to Sunshine Law regarding records

People can make requests for public records on the Internet or in person.

By Nichole Ballard

Published Feb. 19, 2010

Correction appended

The Columbia Police Department stores thousands of criminal and non-criminal records accessible to the general public, sometimes for free.

CPD's Records Unit handles all public requests for various types of publicly available police documents. People can make a request over the Internet or in person at the CPD Records Unit office.

"A lot of times records are requested when someone wants a copy of their police report or a traffic wreck," CPD spokeswoman Jessie Haden said. "Once those documents are complete and a request is made, gosh, we might be able to produce the records on the spot."

Haden said at other times, a request might take longer to fill. Regardless of the length of the request, Records Unit employees are required by law to respond within three working days.

"That reply will tell you if the document is available, what the format is and what the approximate cost will be, if there is a cost," Haden said.

The state allows a charge of 10 cents per copy and the city lets agencies charge $14.35 per hour to produce, gather and review the documents, CPD Lt. Ken Hammond said. Hammond is the Operations Support Division Commander of the Records Unit.

The type of record requested dictates how the document can be located, Haden said. For example, narrowing down the area where the wreck occurred can identify a traffic crash report, but a data report is "farmed out" to the IT department.

The city is in the process of going through the Records Information Management Program, Hammond said. The goal is to get a true and accurate count of all the documents of record the city possesses to avoid duplicates, determine who has what records and make sure records are destroyed according to the Missouri Attorney General's schedule of retention.

Each department is responsible for its own inventory program, Hammond said. The new program would put all records in one spot.

"This unit only handles the criminal and non-criminal police reports," Hammond said. "If you would, say, go to the traffic department, they are currently keeping track of their own records as well."

Hammond is directly responsible for CPD record requests.

"If there is a problem, it's not the assistant's problem, by statute, it's my problem," he said.

Hammond reviews about two to four open requests per day and applies the Missouri Sunshine Law to the requests.

"It tells you how you have to respond to the request, the time it has to be done, what has to be quoted and so on," said Hammond, whose copy of the law is full of notes and yellow highlights.

Published by the attorney general, the Sunshine Law outlines all aspects of public records in Missouri. Specifically, Hammond refers to the RS610 statute, which defines exactly what a public record is. Hammond then interprets the statute "to the best of (his) ability" and applies it to the request.

"Police reports are a totally different animal when you're dealing with Sunshine," Hammond said. "The same record can be open at one time, closed at another time and reopened. Some may be open to the public when other parts are not."

The Sunshine Law RS610 also gives exceptions, such as "welfare cases of identifiable individuals" and the fees that might be charged. Hammond said he also works with the city attorney in case there are any questions about potential problems that might come up with record requests.

"The Sunshine Law is very gray at times," Hammond said.