Obtaining public records can be a challenge

By FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Bucks County Courier Times

First in a three-day series

Many government offices in Bucks County and across Pennsylvania treat requests for basic public records and documents with suspicion, hindering or even denying prompt access, a survey of almost 700 government offices found.

Despite 2002 changes in state law intended to strengthen the public's right to know, obtaining full access to public information remains a challenge. Success can depend on who makes and takes the information request, how people identify themselves, what reason they give for wanting the information and other variables.

Why should you care?

For one thing, this information - from crime records to district court cases - belongs to the public. As a member of the public, you should be able to get it.

For another, some government officials appear to believe it's OK to deny the public the same government record they would give a reporter. They are wrong. The law says public information must be equally accessible to all.

The public access survey, coordinated by The Associated Press, involved 278 journalists from 50 Pennsylvania newspapers and a TV station. They logged 15,000 miles in late February to test public access to public records and information. Follow-up calls and interviews were conducted around the state in the months after the survey.

Bucks County Courier Times reporters surveyed 27 municipalities, 27 police departments, 14 district justice offices and 10 school districts. The Intelligencer of Doylestown surveyed county government in Bucks and Montgomery counties and Upper Bucks municipalities, school districts, police departments and district judge offices.

The surveyors sought:

School superintendent contracts and high school principal salaries;
The 2003 vehicle costs for boroughs and townships ;
A specific criminal case file and a photocopy of the charging document from district court;
Police departments' lists of calls (also called logs or blotters) over a recent 24-hour period; and
Jail overtime and legal fees paid by counties.
Statewide, just more than half of the requests for information were granted on the spot or within a few days. Under the Associated Press guidelines, full access occurred when information or records were provided within the two-day survey period, partial access occurred when only part of the information was provided and no access occurred when information was denied or not provided within the survey period.

In Bucks County, the county government promised the information on jail overtime and legal fees but never provided it. Montgomery County provided some information.

The 14 area district courts scored the best for access. All but one allowed reporters to look at the requested case files, although some deleted information before turning over the files. Six provided copies of the charging documents as requested.

Statewide, district courts provided access or partial access 90 percent of the time. Locally and throughout Pennsylvania, courts differed on what information they removed from the files. Some blocked a defendant's address and age, while others removed other identifying information.

Five of 10 area school districts provided all the information requested, although there was some confusion about what was public. Statewide, surveyors were successful at getting data from 67 percent of the 130 school districts from which information was sought.

Some superintendents in Bucks and around the state said in subsequent interviews that they didn't realize their contracts were public information. (They are.)

Around the state - and locally - the 24-hour list of police calls was tough to get. Only nine of 27 local police agencies complied fully. Some said they didn't keep such logs, while others said the blotters included details that could hamper ongoing criminal investigations. Some said no one was available to authorize the release. And, finally, some said they simply didn't consider the list a public record.

Information on municipal vehicle costs for 2003 was hard to get. Only 10 of 27 area municipalities provided full access. A number of area municipalities said they didn't have the information in one single file so it couldn't be provided on the spot.

Locally and around the state, many of those who took the requests demanded to know whom the surveyor worked for and why the information was sought. The surveyors had been told to initially provide only their names, since they were representing the public.

If they were pressed for more information about themselves, the surveyors were told to ask if that was necessary to get the data they sought. If they were told yes, the surveyors were told to be truthful and identify themselves as reporters. They were told to not mention the AP public records audit because that information could taint the outcome of their requests.

The state Right-to-Know Law specifies that people requesting public information don't have to say why they want it or how they'll use it.

Despite that, some surveyors around the state reported enduring aggressive - and in some cases intimidating - questioning by clerks, secretaries, elected officials and police officers. Most surveyors reported pleasant, or at least professional, attitudes among the government workers that they contacted. Some said they encountered ignorance of the law and office policies, indifference and even some rudeness.

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