Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Monday July 02 2018, @08:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the css dept.

Judge slams Tacoma for not releasing stingray records

A judge in Washington state has excoriated the Tacoma Police Department for withholding public records pertaining to its use of cell-site simulators, also known as stingrays. Back in 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington state sued the TPD on behalf of four community leaders, arguing that the department has not adequately responded to their public records requests concerning the use of stingrays, which included asking for a blank form authorizing its use.

"The [Public Records Act] establishes a positive duty to disclose public records unless they fall within specific exemptions," Judge G. Helen Whitener wrote in her Monday opinion. "This mandates that the City, upon receiving a request for documents, must first do an adequate search and then must produce the documents requested if there is not an exemption. The PRA does not require the City to analyze the reasons why the document is requested or to determine the relevance of the documents requested even if they are blank forms. The blank form taken in context of the other forms may have meaning to the requestor, and it is not for the City to analyze its relevance. To adopt the City's interpretation of the PRA would defeat the broad mandate of the PRA to allow access to public records not covered by and exemption."


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Tuesday July 03 2018, @01:17PM

    by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Tuesday July 03 2018, @01:17PM (#701880)

    The new generation has plenty of impotent, isolated rage. Hence the school shootings, incel attacks, and marked increases in suicides and drug overdose deaths.

    But I'm not ready to go to war. Maybe I should be, but I'm not. Instead, I'm getting involved. I'm in my 40s, and for my whole life to this point the extent of my participation in politics and policy was voting in general elections. Now I'm getting my hands dirty - registering with a party so I can vote in a primary election (my state is one of the ones that require that), attending protests, calling my representatives, volunteering at events and fundraising. And while I spent the last fifteen years aware that the clothes I bought were made by kids in Bangladesh, Amazon and Walmart treat their employees like dogs, and so forth, now I'm actually changing my shopping habits. And by itself all that means exactly nothing. But sitting around feeling powerless and angry is exactly what the people who benefit from the status quo want. If we all get off our asses - whether to vote, shop differently, or go to war... then the situation will change. At the least, I'll die knowing that I tried instead of wondering what I could have done.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2