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Pennsylvania State Police v. Office of Open Records
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| Deliberative Process Exemption |
Pennsylvania State Police v. Office of Open Records was a case in Pennsylvania's Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court in 2010 concerning disclosure of police incident reports.
Important precedents
This case established that Police Incident Reports are not subject to disclosure through Right-To-Know Law requests on the basis that the requested Incident Report was a criminal investigative record and thus exempt under the Right-To-Know Law.
Background
- On June 23, 2010 a petition was entered to review the final determination of the Office of Open Records. This petition was to grant the requester Donald R. Gilliand an appeal after the Pennsylvania State Police denied his request for an incident report under the Right-To-Know Law.
- The Pennsylvania State Police contend that the Office of Open Records should not have granted the appeal as and incident report is considered part of an on-going criminal investigation and cited its exempted status under the Right-To-Know Law Section 65 P.S. § 67.708(b)(16).
- The initial records request was placed on February 2, 2009.
Ruling of the court
The court ruled in favor of the Pennsylvania State Police and maintained that a Police Incident Report is covered under the exemptions found in the Right-To-Know Law 65 P.S. § 67.102. Section 708(b)(16).
Associated cases
- Commonwealth v. Mines - 680 A.2d 1227 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1996)
- Tapco, Inc. v. Township of Neville - 695 A.2d 460 (Pa. Cmwtlh. 1997)
