[ad_1]
A Kentucky newspaper has sued the state’s largest metropolis to get entry to police records cited in a federal investigation.
The Courier Journal reported on Monday that it filed a lawsuit towards Louisville Metro Government after the town’s police division failed to answer a request for search warrant purposes cited in a Justice Department report.
The Kentucky Open Records Act provides companies 5 enterprise days to answer such requests, however the newspaper reviews it submitted a request 4 months in the past.
RUBY-RED KENTUCKY BEGINS NEW LEGISLATIVE SESSION WITH BUDGET TALKS, POLICY CLASHES ON HORIZON
The metropolis’s solely response was a Sept. 6 message from the town’s prime records official saying she was checking with the police division and didn’t know when the records can be accessible.
“LMPD’s refusal to comply with this request should be seen for what it is: a deliberate and willful attempt to shield its officers from unwanted public scrutiny by simply ignoring requests that would cast the Department in an unflattering light. But these warrant applications are the public’s records, and the public is entitled to see them,” attorneys representing The Courier Journal wrote within the lawsuit.
The metropolis of Louisville, Kentucky, is being sued by a significant local newspaper over its processing of police records requests.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg mentioned Monday that he has directed the town’s police division and records compliance “to take immediate steps to provide timely responses to these requests.”
“This is unacceptable and is not consistent with the commitment to transparency that I have made a priority for my administration,” he mentioned in a press release.
The U.S. Justice Department introduced final yr that its investigation discovered Louisville police had engaged in a sample of violating constitutional rights and discrimination towards the Black group. Among the findings: police cherry-picked judges to evaluate warrant purposes as an alternative of following the courtroom’s rotating schedule, that means only a few accredited nearly all of warrants.
“The finding of the DOJ report was that the warrant process was deeply flawed and led to abuses of constitutional rights, and the public has a right to know all of those who were involved in that pattern or practice,” mentioned Michael Abate, a Louisville First Amendment lawyer representing The Courier Journal within the swimsuit.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The investigation was prompted by the deadly police taking pictures of Breonna Taylor.
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink