Post by Logan on Feb 19, 2016 1:45:08 GMT -6
Virginia bill to keep officers' names secret would be first in the nation, experts say
A bill that would allow all Virginia law enforcement officers’ names to be withheld from the public would be the first of its kind in the country, police accountability and open records advocates say.
The proposal by Sen. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake – SB552 – excludes the names of law enforcement and fire marshals from mandatory disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and makes them a personnel record.
Cosgrove said he worked on the bill with the Fraternal Order of Police and the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police. He acknowledged that officers’ names could be secret “under the broadest scope of that bill.”
It passed the Senate 25-15 this week and will soon be taken up by a House of Delegates subcommittee.
Read more: pilotonline.com/news/government/politics/virginia/virginia-bill-to-keep-officers-names-secret-would-be-first/article_f49aa653-a911-50a7-b77d-242ebc1f95fc.html
A bill that would allow all Virginia law enforcement officers’ names to be withheld from the public would be the first of its kind in the country, police accountability and open records advocates say.
The proposal by Sen. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake – SB552 – excludes the names of law enforcement and fire marshals from mandatory disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and makes them a personnel record.
Cosgrove said he worked on the bill with the Fraternal Order of Police and the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police. He acknowledged that officers’ names could be secret “under the broadest scope of that bill.”
It passed the Senate 25-15 this week and will soon be taken up by a House of Delegates subcommittee.
Read more: pilotonline.com/news/government/politics/virginia/virginia-bill-to-keep-officers-names-secret-would-be-first/article_f49aa653-a911-50a7-b77d-242ebc1f95fc.html