Uvalde law enforcement officials seeking to block public records because they might prove "embarassing"

[torbee]

What a crock of shit.

The City of Uvalde and its police department are working with a private law firm to prevent the release of nearly any record related to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in which 19 children and two teachers died, according to a letter obtained by Motherboard in response to a series of public information requests we made. The public records Uvalde is trying to suppress include body camera footage, photos, 911 calls, emails, text messages, criminal records, and more.


“The City has not voluntarily released any information to a member of the public,” the city’s lawyer, Cynthia Trevino, who works for the private law firm Denton Navarro Rocha Bernal & Zech, wrote in a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The city wrote the letter asking Paxton for a determination about what information it is required to release to the public, which is standard practice in Texas. Paxton's office will eventually rule which of the city's arguments have merit and will determine which, if any, public records it is required to release.

The letter makes clear, however, that the city and its police department want to be exempted from releasing a wide variety of records in part because it is being sued, in part because some of the records could include “highly embarrassing information,” in part because some of the information is “not of legitimate concern to the public,” in part because the information could reveal “methods, techniques, and strategies for preventing and predicting crime,” in part because some of the information may cause or may "regard … emotional/mental distress," and in part because its response to the shooting is being investigated by the Texas Rangers, the FBI, and the Uvalde County District Attorney.

The letter explains that Uvalde has at least one in-house attorney (whose communications it is trying to prevent from public release), and yet, it is using outside private counsel to deal with a matter of extreme importance and public interest. Uvalde’s city government and its police department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Motherboard.

 

[seminole97]

The most important secrets the government keeps are regarding its own incompetence.

 

[Old_wrestling_fan]

Hmmm...I suppose there could be a legit reason not to release all info to the public, either at this stage or perhaps ever, but "embarrassment" cannot be one of them.

I also find it peculiar that it is the "city" police force resisting this info release, not the "school" force. Pretty much all of the failures, hence, possible "embarrassment" material, identified to date have been associated with Arredondo/school police.

What other info is there that the city police would consider embarrassing???? I support a reasonable length of time to get a proper investigation completed before issuing all of the info publicly, but embarrassing or not, pretty much the full story needs to be shared. (There could be some legit reasons to not reveal tactics, etc, but a clear timeline of what happened and who was doing, or not doing, what...that needs to be put out.

 

[torbee]

Hmmm...I suppose there could be a legit reason not to release all info to the public, either at this stage or perhaps ever, but "embarrassment" cannot be one of them.

I also find it peculiar that it is the "city" police force resisting this info release, not the "school" force. Pretty much all of the failures, hence, possible "embarrassment" material, identified to date have been associated with Arredondo/school police.

What other info is there that the city police would consider embarrassing???? I support a reasonable length of time to get a proper investigation completed before issuing all of the info publicly, but embarrassing or not, pretty much the full story needs to be shared. (There could be some legit reasons to not reveal tactics, etc, but a clear timeline of what happened and who was doing, or not doing, what...that needs to be put out.

Yeah, absolutely fine to delay for some time during an active investigation, but after that, it should ALL be released. Potential embarrassment has no legal standing in a public records request, nor should it.