News

Maine Urged to Deny Access

A town councilman gets drunk and throws a rock at a citizen’s house, breaking a window. The homeowner calls the police and the councilman is summoned on a charge of criminal mischief.

The story of the Schenck school teacher summoned on a fireworks violation may not have been available to the press under the new policy.

The reports of this kind of incident will no longer be considered public information under a new policy distributed to police chiefs by the State Attorney General’s Office.

In a decision that seriously undermines the concept of freedom of information, police chiefs around the state have been notified that the names of such rock throwers should not become public knowledge unless a district attorney agrees to forward the charge to court, a decision that typically takes weeks.

Brian McMaster, the director of investigations for the State Attorney General’s Office, said that police departments should also adhere to policies that keep secret the names of people who receive traffic tickets.

Although a summons is a charge, but when the charge is considered minor, the person is typically not arrested or jailed, but is instead given a paper summons that demands settlement of the matter, or an appearance in court.

The new policy comes as a response to a survey conducted by the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition. The group sent people around the state, requesting documents believed to be public knowledge from police departments, municipal offices, and school superintendent’s offices; reporting that some police departments refused to grant access to information considered public under the law, as they understood it.

McMaster that there are several statutes that support his new recommendations to restrict access to information.

Newspapers that publish lists of persons issued summons will no longer be able to get the names of alleged offenders unless they pay a fee to the Violations Bureau, part of the Maine District Court system. There will also be a delay of a couple of weeks between the issuance of a ticket or summons and the release of information by the Violations Bureau.

In response to complaints from news organizations and an anticipated challenge to his decision, McMaster said that he has asked an Assistant Attorney General to review the law on releasing a list of those who receive summonses.

-- Ken Anderson 05/14/03