Chittenden County State’s Attorney TJ Donovan today laid out a plan for more open public access to information relating to criminal investigations in Vermont.
Donovan said current law in Vermont has a “presumption of secrecy” relating to requests for information about criminal investigations.
Current public records law states that the state does not have to disclose “records dealing with the detection and investigation of crime, including those maintained on any individual or compiled in the course of a criminal or disciplinary investigation by any police or professional licensing agency; provided, however, that records relating to management and direction of a law enforcement agency; records reflecting the initial arrest of a person, including any ticket, citation, or complaint issued for a traffic violation, as that term is defined in 23 V.S.A. § 2302; and records reflecting the charge of a person shall be public.”
Donovan said this law is contrary to democratic ideals.
“At the end of the day,” he said, “this is a government that works for the people and when you’re talking about law enforcement who protect people’s rights but also have the right to take away people’s liberty, I think that’s a greater reason to have greater transparency because it does get to the issue of public trust.”
“I think the Attorney General hasn’t been addressing this issue.” ~ Donovan
The federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was initially written with similar language, but Congress added an exemption in the wake of Watergate that changed the presumption to that of disclosure except in cases where disclosure would hurt the investigation.
Donovan suggested Vermont’s legislators should do the same, and the Attorney General should bring his influence to bear on the issue.
“I think the Attorney General hasn’t been addressing this issue,” Donovan said. “The Attorney General is the state’s top lawyer. This is about leadership. This falls under the purview of the Attorney General and working with Senator Sears by bringing the credibility and the gravitas of the office of the Attorney General to build support for this in the legislature. I’m hopeful that it will pass.”
While Donovan is the first candidate this year to campaign on the issue, the pull for closer alignment with federal public records law is not new.
At the American Civil Liberties Union’s Vermont Chapter, Staff Attorney Dan Barrett has been working on achieving similar ends through different means. In a Vermont Supreme Court Case, VTDigger Editor Anne Galloway sued the Town of Hartford for refusing to disclose details of the events leading up to a police incident there in May 2010. Wayne Burwell was pepper sprayed, handcuffed and dragged out of his own home by police after he passed out because of a medical condition. A cleaning lady called law enforcement alleging that Burwell, who is black, was a burglar. The Hartford Police Department argued that Burwell wasn’t actually arrested because no charges were filed and that the investigation was ongoing.
Barrett argued the public records case.
“Both the Valley News and [Anne Galloway] made a request for information showing what happened,” Barrett said. Hartford denied the request, and the ACLU is representing Galloway in the lawsuit that resulted.
Barrett said he hopes the case will set a precedent in Vermont that will make information about police investigations more available.
“There’s nothing that sets forth really concretely that really says look, unless it’s X, Y and Z, it sees the light of day,” he said.
Attorney General Bill Sorrell investigated the officers involved in the apprehension of Burwell in November of 2010 and issued a statement saying they acted lawfully.
