With demands for police reform echoing from coast-to-coast, a Lehigh Valley police department should be proud of setting an example for others to follow.
Bethlehem police published its use-of-force policy on the city’s website Wednesday. It disclosed more information than it was legally obligated to.
Other Pennsylvania police departments have sought to keep some, or all, of that information under wraps. They’ve argued that releasing their tactical guidance and weapons inventories could endanger officers.
And the state’s Office of Open Records has sided with them, citing exemptions in the Right-to-Know Law that allow for documents containing security and safety information to be withheld. That office has ordered several departments to release use-of-force policies, but allowed them to redact some sections.
I’m sure Bethlehem police leaders and the city’s lawyers knew that. But in the spirit of openness, they chose to release all of their regulations, including when using force is justified. And they didn’t just give the policy to someone who asked. They published it on the city’s website, for everyone to see.
Only a week earlier, Chief Mark DiLuzio had provided a heavily redacted version to The Morning Call when asked for the policy. He said then that making the complete policy public “would compromise the safety of individual officers and the public and make it easier for criminals to elude prosecution.”
In publishing the full policy Wednesday, DiLuzio said the department was proud of its rules, which are updated annually.
That’s a refreshing attitude we should see more often, regarding all types of government records.
Too often, agencies look for ways to keep records secret by claiming they fit categories that the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law exempts from release, such as trade secrets and safety and security information.
I wish agencies would instead focus on a seldom-cited section of the law. It says exempt records can be made public if their release is in the public’s interest. That’s what Bethlehem did.
Allentown’s and Easton’s police chiefs told The Morning Call they would release their policies, but with redactions.
The Office of Open Records has ruled that sections of use-of-force policies that detail officers’ movements and describe use of deadly force and less lethal weapons such as Tasers may be withheld from the public because they “would be reasonably likely” to jeopardize officers or public safety.
The question of whether releasing a policy puts officers in harm’s way is an interesting one.
The average person is not going to memorize their local police department’s regulations so they can try to exploit them should they ever find themselves squaring off with an officer.
People with criminal minds likely aren’t going to, either.
There’s always the chance, though, that an organized group of rabble-rousers could study a policy prior to a protest or situation where they plan to start trouble. They may try to bait officers into breaking their rules so they look bad, or set themselves up for a lawsuit.
Last week, the Open Records office did order a police department to release its entire use-of-force policy, but only because the department was obstinate and had ignored a request for it — twice.
In April, an inmate at the state prison in Waymart, Wayne County, sought the policy of the Pottsville Police Department. The department did not respond to the request within five days. Under the Right-to-Know Law, that means the request was “deemed” to be denied.
The inmate appealed to the Open Records office. Pottsville police did not respond to the appeal, either, so it was granted and the department was ordered to give the inmate its policy.
If the department would have responded to the request, it likely would have been able to release only a portion of its policy, based on how the appeals office had handled previous requests.
When government agencies ignore requests for records and blow off appeals, it makes them appear to be hiding something. For a police department to do so now, amid nationwide calls for reforms and openness, is disgraceful.
We need more police departments with the attitude of Bethlehem’s, and less with the attitude of Pottsville’s.
Morning Call columnist Paul Muschick can be reached at 610-820-6582 or paul.muschick@mcall.com
