Alachua County Today has a record of standing firm in demands that public officials abide by their legal responsibilities to provide information when requested. We are sometimes considered the pesky red-headed stepchild of area media outlets. We were recently informed by an area public information officer that of 80 media outlets he deals with, Alachua County Today is the “only one that causes problems.” This may not sound like a flattering statement, but after recent struggles in our quest for public records, we have embraced the label.
Our desire for fairness in the public records acquisition process was reignited a few weeks ago when one of our reporters hit a roadblock with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office. We found out the Sheriff’s Office had offered information to The Gainesville Sun after claiming they could not help us. We had been working for about three weeks on a breaking news story about a former City of Hawthorne clerk who was being charged with stealing money from the City, but a detective at the sheriff’s office never returned any of the multiple phone calls our reporter made in reference to the story. We were eventually sent back and forth between the state attorney’s office and the sheriff’s office because both were claiming they had no information on the incident, and the report on the investigation was “not public record.” The report had been complete for about 23 days, but it was lost in what was eventually dubbed “Quality Control” at the sheriff’s office.
When we found out the Sun had received the “missing” information from the sheriff’s office, we went on the hunt to find out why we had been left out of the loop despite our prolonged and repeated attempts to get details on the story. We called Sheriff Sadie Darnell, we called both public information officers at the sheriff’s office, we called officials in Hawthorne and we were in contact with an attorney representing the Florida Press Association. We cracked open our legal books, we heated up the copy machine and we popped open our highlighters. We were determined to get to the root of what we viewed as an unjust and unethical situation. The sheriff’s office informed us that we would have to submit all future public information requests in writing because we were stirring up so much trouble. Sheriff’s Office officials informed us they could not give us a report on this incident. But after our own investigation, we determined that the Sheriff’s Office was indeed violating public records laws, however unintentional those violations may have been. The Sheriff’s Office, like all other state and local government agencies, has no right to demand that we submit any requests for information or records in writing. What’s more is that the Sheriff’s Office was obligated to release certain information pertaining to the case that our reporters specifically requested of them.
We were not going to stand by as our, and thereby our readers’, rights were violated. While other news publications may have allowed such incidents to occur unabated, we pursued truth and justice. For that reason, we jumped at the opportunity to meet with Sherriff’s Office officials to further discuss our concerns, and we were pleased when they stepped forward to admit they had indeed misunderstood the law as it relates to the release of certain public records. We commend those officials with whom we met for accepting our criticisms of the Sheriff’s Office.
We understand that the media and law enforcement agencies often have different agendas. Alachua County Today has an interest in keeping the public informed via news stories while the Sheriff’s Office is focused on fighting crime. Often, the very agency from which we are attempting to obtain information is stymieing the flow of it to protect the details of an investigation. While our interests may differ, our hope in meeting with officials at the Sheriff’s Office was not to create a more adversarial relationship and further shutoff the flow of information, but to make it clear that the information we seek falls within the parameters of Florida’s public records laws and must be provided.
We appreciate the opportunity to provide the Sheriff’s Office insight into those laws that we have become familiar with out of necessity. We hope these ongoing exercises in removing barriers to public information will allow other media outlets and citizens alike avoid similar challenges in the future.
In the interest of promoting the flow of information, Alachua County Today is willing to leave this specific situation with the Sheriff’s Office in the past. Still, we believe this incident highlights the reality that we will not stand by and allow our rights to be trampled upon. Censoring public information to the media ultimately means people such as you, our readers, will be left in the dark, a place where no watchdog can look after the public’s interest in the workings of government. Alachua County Today will fight for our readers, and we will fight to preserve the rights of the media, and in turn, the rights of all citizens.
