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"It being essential to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government and to the maintenance of a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner, and that citizens be advised of and be aware of the performance of public officials and deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the State of Mississippi that the formation and determination of public policy is public business... " - From Section 25-41-1 of the Mississippi Code.
And so, that sounds like citizens should be able to be see and hear pretty much everything there is to know about public business, doesn't it? Well, that's not the way it is in practice. Indeed, there's a lot the taxpayers are not allowed to know and there's more that the law says they should know, but the average citizen can't afford to "fight City Hall" as the system now requires a court fight to enforce the law.
Let's be clear. The Supreme Court and most trial courts in the state have been steadfast in enforcing the law as written. The problem is not the courts. It also should be said that many public officials do their best to follow a course of openness. Unfortunately, some others do not. The real problem has been the Legislature's unwillingness to provide the appropriate mechanisms, procedures and enforcement measures to make state and local government truly open.
The laws which govern openness in Mississippi are known as The Open Meetings Act and The Public Records Act. Together, they are frequently referred to as the "Sunshine Laws" or Freedom of Information laws. The Associated Press and newspapers in Mississippi have run a series of stories in the past week pointing out some of the flaws in our current laws. The purpose of this opinion piece is to make specific suggestions for making those laws better. Here goes:
• Law Enforcement Records: The single greatest weakness in the law relates to law enforcement records. Did you know that you currently don't even have a right, as many in law enforcement interpret the Public Records Law, to even know that a crime has been committed in your neighborhood? We are not talking here about law enforcement's ability to withhold delicate investigative material while investigating a crime, but rather that the crime even occurred.
How do we fix this? First, the general section allowing any law enforcement record to be withheld must be repealed while leaving in place what is known as the "investigative exemption" which protects such specific things as confidential sources which, if publicly known, might compromise an investigation. Next, a specific law must be passed asserting the public's absolute right to know the basics about a criminal incident: What occurred, where it occurred, names of persons arrested and the like.
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