By Radley Balko
Several years ago, local
journalists noticed that three of the largest police agencies in Virginia — the
Fairfax County Police Department, the Alexandria Police Department and the
Arlington County Police Department — were summarily denying all open-records
requests. Virginia actually has pretty decent open-records laws, but these
agencies were simply choosing to ignore them. This came to light after a number
of police shootings in which the agencies involved had refused to name the
officers responsible. Journalist Michael Pope found that the agencies were even
declining to release information about cases they were simultaneously touting in
press releases.
This was essentially an open
defiance of state law. Yet the Alexandria commonwealth’s attorney not only
defended the lack of transparency, he blamed the media for wanting such
information in the first place, and derisively referred to “the sacred ‘right
of the public to know.’ ”
The Virginia Senate responded
with some watered-down modifications to the state’s open-record laws. Even
those modifications were vigorously opposed by law enforcement agencies across
the state.
Fast-forward to this week. The
Virginia Senate just passed a horrendous bill.
The Virginia Senate voted 25-15
on Monday to keep the names of all police officers and deputy sheriffs a
secret.
SB552 by Sen. John Cosgrove,
R-Chesapeake, applies to any local or state officer, including officers from
agencies such as the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the Virginia
Marine Police.
Cosgrove said during an earlier
subcommittee hearing that he filed the bill in response to a November court
ruling allowing The Virginian-Pilot access to names, agencies and employment
dates for current Virginia police officers. The newspaper is examining how
often officers who got in trouble were able to find other jobs in law
enforcement.
Cosgrove said Monday that his
bill, which exempts law enforcement officers from Freedom of Information Act
requirements, should be passed to protect officers and their families from
being targeted for violence.
“Unfortunately, our culture has
changed,” he said. “Many times, police officers are considered fair game.”
Where to begin? Let’s start with
the fact that this bill was introduced in direct response to a newspaper
investigation into why police officers who are fired for misconduct are
permitted to simply go work for another agency. Does Sen. Cosgrove believe that
cops who are fired for corruption, misuse of force, or illegal acts should be
able to find work at another police agency? Why doesn’t he want the public to
know when and how often this happens?
Another Virginia state senator
actually cited “ISIS terrorism” as a reason to keep the identities of police
officers secret. For the record, Cosgrove claims membership in his local
chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police and has been named Legislator of the
Year by the FOP and the Virginia State Police Association. He has received
campaign contributions from the latter and the Virginia Sheriffs Association.
The notion that “our culture has
changed” is also wrong. As we’ve documented over and over again here at The
Watch, policing has been getting safer for decades. (Yes, the start of 2016 has
seen an inordinate number of killings of police officers. There’s no evidence
this is indicative of a trend or is the beginning of a reversal of the
generation-long trend toward fewer such killings.) I’m not aware of a single
incident in which the publication of a police officer’s name after an
officer-involved shooting has led to violence against that police officer or
his or her family. In a few very high-profile cases, there have been threats.
But to require police agencies to keep all officers’ names secret would
essentially remove the ability of the media and watchdog groups to find
patterns of officer misconduct. It would mean the public would be completely
reliant on law enforcement agencies to police themselves. That’s a massive
overreaction to a perceived threat for which there’s little to zero evidence.
It’s worth stating one more time
exactly what’s happening here: Virginia’ state Senate thinks the public should
be forbidden from knowing the names of the public servants entrusted with the
power to detain, arrest and kill.
Let’s hope the Virginia House of
Delegates ends this madness and kills the bill.
Radley Balko blogs about criminal
justice, the drug war and civil liberties for The Washington Post. He is the
author of the book "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of
America's Police Forces."