FREEDOM
OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT
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In the Matter of a Complaint by |
FINAL DECISION |
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Bette Stuart, |
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Complainants |
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against |
Docket #FIC 2001-208 |
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Chief, Police
Department, |
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Respondents |
July 25, 2001 |
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The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on May 29,
2001, at which time the complainant and the respondent appeared, stipulated to
certain facts and presented testimony, exhibits and argument on the complaint.
After consideration of the entire record, the following facts are found
and conclusions of law are reached:
1. The respondent is a public agency within the meaning of §1-200(1), G.S.
2. On March 29, 2001 the complainant filed a complaint with the Groton Long Point Police Department concerning an alleged March 25, 2001 incident between the complainant and a neighbor who lived across the street from the complainant.
3. By letter dated March 30, 2001, the complainant requested that the respondent mail her “a copy of the full police report, application of the arrest warrant and any and all documents relating to [sic] her complaint” filed on March 29, 2001.
4. By letter dated April 10, 2001 and received by the complainant on April 17, 2001, the respondent advised the complainant that he could not comply with her request because the requested records were exempt from disclosure under §1-210, G.S.
5. By letter dated April 24, 2001 and filed April 26, 2001, the complainant appealed the respondent’s denial of access to the requested records to the Commission.
6. Section 1-210(a), G.S., provides in relevant part that:
Except as otherwise provided by any federal law or state statute, all records maintained or kept on file by any public agency…shall be public records and every person shall have the right to inspect such records promptly during regular office or business hours or to receive a copy of such records in accordance with the provisions of section 1-212.
7. Section 1-212(a), G.S., provides in relevant part:
Any person applying in writing shall receive promptly upon request, a plain or certified copy of any public record.
8. It is found that the requested records are public records within the meaning of §1-210(a), G.S.
9. At the hearing on this matter, the respondent maintained that the requested records were exempt from disclosure pursuant to §1-210(b)(3)(G), G.S.
10. Section 1-210(b)(3)(G), G.S., provides in relevant part, for the nondisclosure of:
Records of law enforcement agencies not otherwise available to the public which records were compiled in connection with the detection or investigation of crime, if the disclosure of said records would not be in the public interest because it would result in the disclosure of…(G) uncorroborated allegations subject to destruction pursuant to section 1-216.
11. Immediately following the hearing on this matter, the respondent submitted copies of the requested records to the Commission for an in camera inspection. The records submitted for in camera inspection consist of fourteen pages: an incident report, signed statements, an arrest warrant application, a warrant review prepared by the state’s attorney and memoranda.
12. It is found that the respondent submitted an arrest warrant application to the state’s attorney in connection with the alleged incident but the state’s attorney refused to prosecute on the basis of a finding of no probable cause.
13. At the hearing on this matter, the respondent provided the complainant and the Commission with a copy of the warrant review record, which record is among the records submitted for in camera inspection, as described in paragraph 11, above.
14. It is found, after a review of the remaining records submitted for in camera inspection, that such records constitute records of a law enforcement agency, not otherwise available to the public, which were compiled in connection with the detection or investigation of crime. It is further found that disclosure of such records would not be in the public interest because it would result in the disclosure of “uncorroborated allegations subject to destruction” within the meaning of §1-210(b)(3)(G), G.S.
15. It is concluded that the requested records are exempt from disclosure pursuant to §1-210(b)(3)(G), G.S. In addition, it is concluded that the signed statements of the other persons interviewed during the investigation of the alleged incident are exempt from disclosure pursuant to §1-210(b)(3)(B), G.S.
16. It is therefore concluded that the respondent did not violate the disclosure provisions of §§1-210(a) and 1-212(a), G.S., by failing to provide the complainant with a copy of the requested records.
17. The Commission notes
the complainant’s dissatisfaction with the time it took the respondent to
reply to her request and the fact that he sent his response to her street
address rather than her post office box, which she had listed as her mailing
address. It is found however,
that the respondent responded to the complainant’s request promptly
following his receipt of such request and the conclusion of the investigation
of the alleged incident and that the mailing of his response to the
complainant’s street address rather than her post office box was an
inadvertent error.
The following order by the Commission is hereby recommended on the basis of the record concerning the above-captioned complaint:
1. The complaint is hereby dismissed.
Approved by Order of the Freedom of Information Commission at its regular meeting of July 25, 2001.
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Petrea A. Jones
Acting Clerk of the Commission
PURSUANT TO SECTION 4-180(c), G.S., THE FOLLOWING ARE THE NAMES OF EACH PARTY AND THE MOST RECENT MAILING ADDRESS, PROVIDED TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION, OF THE PARTIES OR THEIR AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE.
THE PARTIES TO THIS CONTESTED CASE ARE:
Bette Stuart
PO Box 9232
Noank, CT 06340-9232
Chief, Police Department,
Borough of Groton Long Point
c/o Jeffrey T. Londregan, Esq.
Conway & Londregan, PC
38 Huntington Street, PO Box 1351
New London, CT 06320
________________________________
Petrea A. Jones
Acting Clerk of the Commission
FIC/2001-208/FD/paj/07/30/2001