Small wins mark fight to open records
Antoinette Jenna Pizzi
Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: News
Police at private universities will be held to a new transparency standard if a bill requiring colleges to make all law enforcement records public passes the State House.
The Massachusetts Campus Crime Information bill, which would require police at private colleges across the commonwealth to disclose the same records as municipal and state police forces, passed the joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight April 17.
A recent ruling by Connecticut's Freedom of Information Commission mandated that the Yale University Police Department meet the same sunshine standards as state and local police departments -- a decision openness advocates have pointed to as a victory in the decades-long fight for increased campus crime accountability.
Members of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Crime Club compared the Massachusetts Campus Crime Information bill to the Yale ruling in a statement, claiming both will make private university police subject to the same disclosure rules that other police, including those at public colleges, have complied with since 1973.
Rep. Alice Wolf, a Cambridge Democrat, said she has proposed laws similar to the one currently up for consideration on Beacon Hill. Harvard University students, angry about safety information school police refused to disclose, have petitioned for her support, she said.
"I don't know why campus police shouldn't be more open when they cover more than just the campus," she said.
Legislation Wolf had supported was sent into study, which "is like going into the wastebasket," at the legislature she said.
David Coulier, a representative for the Society of Professional Journalists, compared the operation of private police to the ways to Communist Russia.
In Massachusetts, police at private colleges train with state and local officers and patrol campus areas, but are required to release less detailed information to the public than their municipal and public school counterparts.
The Massachusetts Campus Crime Information bill, which would require police at private colleges across the commonwealth to disclose the same records as municipal and state police forces, passed the joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight April 17.
A recent ruling by Connecticut's Freedom of Information Commission mandated that the Yale University Police Department meet the same sunshine standards as state and local police departments -- a decision openness advocates have pointed to as a victory in the decades-long fight for increased campus crime accountability.
Members of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Crime Club compared the Massachusetts Campus Crime Information bill to the Yale ruling in a statement, claiming both will make private university police subject to the same disclosure rules that other police, including those at public colleges, have complied with since 1973.
Rep. Alice Wolf, a Cambridge Democrat, said she has proposed laws similar to the one currently up for consideration on Beacon Hill. Harvard University students, angry about safety information school police refused to disclose, have petitioned for her support, she said.
"I don't know why campus police shouldn't be more open when they cover more than just the campus," she said.
Legislation Wolf had supported was sent into study, which "is like going into the wastebasket," at the legislature she said.
David Coulier, a representative for the Society of Professional Journalists, compared the operation of private police to the ways to Communist Russia.
In Massachusetts, police at private colleges train with state and local officers and patrol campus areas, but are required to release less detailed information to the public than their municipal and public school counterparts.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
RUSSELL S. GRAND
posted 4/28/08 @ 9:32 AM EST
I think that the information which would satisfy the general public goes part and parcel with the same standard of disclosure that is now available. This would be the kind of crime reported, the venue where it is alleged to have occurred, the name of or identifying badge number of the investigating and/or arresting officer and the summary disposition of the incident. (Continued…)
Post a Comment