Access to police investigation files
The Legislature approved opening up police criminal investigation files to public scrutiny, repealing a state statute that blocks access to police files produced during a criminal investigation.
The legislation is modeled on the federal Freedom of Information Act standard adopted by 21 other states and Washington, D.C., as well as all federal agencies.
Gov. Peter Shumlin backed the push for more access to these records, which was spearheaded by the Vermont American Civil Liberties Union and backed by media organizations.
The result of the new language is that police must disclose these traditionally confidential files, unless they can show that specific harm will be caused by the release. Officials can invoke six exemptions, which protect privacy, the right to a fair trial and confidential informants, among other things.
The state Senate originally wanted express provisions protecting the identities of victims and witnesses to crime, but accepted the House’s decision to move these provisions into the “intent” section of the legislation.
Educational outreach will be done to ensure that state officials know how to interpret the new law. Although state Attorney General Bill Sorrell argued that Vermont’s laws do better than federal standards in protecting individual privacy, most of his legislative suggestions failed to end up in the final bill.
Pension forfeiture
A broadly popular move to forfeit the state pensions of employees convicted of stealing public money became one of the first bills Gov. Peter Shumlin signed into law this session.
Under the law, any public employee who abuses their public office for private financial gain, if convicted of crimes such as embezzlement, bribery or theft, can lose some or all of their pension.
A court judge decides how much of the pension is forfeited and considers factors such as the seriousness of the crime, the seniority of the employee and whether innocent dependents will be harmed by the loss of the pension.
About half of the nation’s states have similar laws, which regulate pensions for public employees convicted of crimes.
The legislation came in reaction to news last year that Sgt. Jim Deeghan of the Vermont State Police, falsified his timesheets to receive about $213,000 for work he never did. Deeghan is serving two years in prison and must pay back the $213,000 in restitution.
The legislation does not apply to public employees already convicted of financial crimes. The state’s unions signed onto the bill without objection.
License plate readers
Law enforcement officers use automatic license plate readers — there are roughly 40 in use around the state — to capture digital images of license plate numbers, which, coupled with the car’s GPS coordinates, are uploaded into a central database. Police are alerted if the plate number is associated with a stolen vehicle, suspended insurance or other violation.
S.18 limits the length of time that this data can be retained to 18 months. When Gov. Peter Shumlin signs the bill, it will be the state’s first law regulating this imaging data.
The bill also tasks the Department of Public Safety with collating information for the Legislature, including how many ALPRs are in use, how much data they collect and how often law enforcement makes requests for information from the database.
The legislation is scheduled to sunset July 1, 2015. Rep. Michael McCarthy, D-St. Albans, said the sunset will allow lawmakers to tinker with retention period if 18 months turns out to be too short or too long.
Supporters of the bill say it addresses civil liberties concerns — that ALPRs allow law enforcement to collect massive amounts of data about innocent people — without denying police officers a useful tool to track criminal activity.
Alicia Freese contributed to this report.