Transparency News 8/31/15

Monday, August 31, 2015

State and Local Stories


The administrators of the state court system say they're not the custodians of a collection of case records contained in their computer system, so the state law guaranteeing the public access to government records doesn't apply to them. The records belong to the elected clerks of Virginia's circuit courts, 70 of whom have declined a request by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court that they release the records to the Daily Press, the office said in a court filing yesterday, objecting to the newspaper's request for a court order to release the records. That petition should be rejected, the OES said Friday, in a filing with the Newport News court. On top of that, the 70 clerks who haven't authorized release of the records should be added as defendants, the OES said. In addition to arguing that the collection of case information in its computers belonged to the clerks, the OES urged "caution against reading the provisions of the Virginia Code to intrude upon the function and authority of circuit court clerks."
Daily Press

A photo of Virginia Beach police mounted patrol officers got more than 250 likes on the department's Facebook page this month. A video of Portsmouth police officers volunteering at a summer day camp was viewed more than 1,000 times. So was a video of a Norfolk officer doing Zumba at a civic league event. Like other law enforcement agencies around the country, police in Hampton Roads are now using social media to interact and communicate with the public. For years, detectives have kept an eye on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to investigate crimes and make arrests. But those sites also offer a way for police to market their departments by posting and tweeting stories about positive interactions with residents.
Virginian-Pilot

National Stories
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Attorneys in Baltimore are reviewing hundreds of convictions after an investigation revealed that police there have secretly used cell phone surveillance tools in nearly 2,000 criminal cases. Following a report in USA Today that exposed the extent of the Baltimore Police Department’s use of cell-tracking technology to locate suspects sought in connection with low-level crimes, lawyers in the city’s public defender office now tell the paper they plan to ask the court to toss out “a large number” of convictions. Law enforcement tools such as the StingRay, an “IMSI-catcher” used by investigators across the U.S., function by acting similarly to ordinary cell towers. The devices are designed to receive signals that are automatically sent by phones within range that are attempting to connect with actual service providers. In the possession of the police, that data can be used by investigators to narrow in on a targeted device and pinpoint the location of a person of interest. Their use has been largely shrouded in secrecy, however, and USA Today recently concluded that police in Baltimore have not only deployed their spy tools more than 1,900 times, but they did so while investigating low-level crimes and without acknowledging it in court.
Washington Times

Editorials/Columns

The report this week that Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales plans to seek an indictment of the police officer who shot and killed a teen outside a Walmart offers the public hope that it might actually learn what happened that April morning. William Chapman II died in the parking lot after reportedly scuffling with an officer who approached him on suspicion of shoplifting. Authorities, including Virginia State Police, which is controlling the investigation, have utterly failed in their duty to provide even basic information about the case. That failure to disclose simple facts — the name of the officer involved, for example — has needlessly exacerbated tensions in the community. Morales’ decision to release a four-page report this week detailing the circumstances leading up to a different fatal shooting, in which she decided not to pursue charges against the officers involved, provided necessary transparency that the public deserves.
Virginian-Pilot

There is nothing more fundamental to the concept of good government than the public’s right to know. And there are few responsibilities of government more fundamental than the administration of justice. The two have merged into an increasingly contentious fight. It is a battle for information that strikes at the very heart of the public’s right to know. That’s information the public and its watchdogs in the news media should have unfettered access to. What’s infuriating is that until just recently, they did. In 2002, then-Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, a Republican, issued a binding Attorney General’s Opinion that access to such databases and other information court clerks are required to keep are, by default, open to the public. Five years later, according the Daily Press, the General Assembly passed a bill that included digital access to land records in the state’s data collection act and also to make certain no Social Security numbers were accessible. But somehow, somewhere in the process as the bill wound its way through various committees and subcommittees and without recorded votes, legislators inserted what has amounted to an across-the-board exemption for every single record the Code of Virginia requires court clerks to maintain. And not even the sponsor of the bill knows how the exemption found its way into the bill. Think about that for a second. Public access is cut off to every single piece of information the Virginia General Assembly, through the Code of Virginia, requires circuit court clerks to collect and maintain.
News & Advance

If you’re a Dominion Power customer, the money you’re paying to the company can be used in ways you don’t support. Under current regulatory rulings, the company can make charitable donations. That includes gifts to civic, educational and religious charities that might be linked to influential state leaders. Whether such gifts then subtly influence political decisions is an open question.
Daily Progress

Interfering with an officer in the execution of his or her duties is against the law in many places. Interfering with the media? Not so much. Just ask the Virginia State Police, one of whose officers ordered two BBC photographers to delete pictures from the crash site where WDBJ killer Vester Lee Flanagan II met his fate. A photojournalists’ association has objected — as well it might. A spokesman for the state police says that any such order “would be in violation of state policy” and that the agency is “looking into the matter.” That’s nice. But too many internal investigations end up papering over inexcusable behavior. See, for instance, the Alcoholic Beverage Control inquiry into the Martese Johnson matter.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Our colleges and universities have historically been some of the best examples of the First Amendment at work in society. However, recent attitudes towards limiting free speech and religious expression by public colleges and universities are troubling. Taxpayer dollars support these public institutions, and students and faculty should not have their First Amendment rights taken away or restricted when they step onto these campuses. As we await their responses, I would urge the institutions that may be in violation of students’ First Amendment rights to update their free speech codes immediately. Policies that limit free speech limit the expression of ideas. We must ensure that First Amendment protections are being upheld across the country. 
Bob Goodlatte, News Virginian