How much cash has Portland spent paying for settlements connected to police
misconduct since Chief Mike Chitwood took over the department in 1988?
It will cost anyone who wants to find out at least $200.
In response to a
Freedom of Information Act request filed by CBW for the amount paid to settle
suits, threats of suits and court decisions against the Portland police, Gary
Wood, the city's lawyer, sent the newspaper a letter saying the data from 1988
to 1991 is not readily accessible due to changes in computer systems and record
keeping. Wood said the data is stored in various computers in a different format
from what the city currently uses. Wood estimated it would take 10 hours of
staff time to retrieve the numbers; hence, the $200 fee.
Per order of the City Council, Wood is already compiling the payouts from
1992 to the present. The council wants a comparison between the amount spent on
settlements and the cost of purchasing outside liability insurance (the city is
currently self-insured). While Wood said he would release the information the
council wants for free, he insisted that under the state's Right to Know law,
the fee for the other data is appropriate.
"It says we can charge a
reasonable cost for a request," Wood said.
Actually, that's not exactly what the law says.
"Every person should have
the right to inspect and copy any public record during regular business hours,"
according to Charles Leadbetter, an assistant Maine attorney general. "Whenever
inspection [of public documents] cannot be accomplished without translation or
electronic data compilations into some other form, the person desiring the
inspection may be required to pay in advance."
Leadbetter said the law allows
for costs because some requests for public information can be expensive. "If it
cost money," he said, "the requester has to pay."
There is, of course, the
possibility public officials could use that provision of the law to make it
difficult for the public to obtain records they did not want released. While
it's not clear that's what's happening in this case, Sig Schutz, a
Portland media lawyer (whose firm represents CBW) questioned how complicated and
expensive the task of compiling the information on settlements could be. "Where
do they need to get this information from? Those payouts are budget
information," Schutz, said. "The letter [from Wood] just says the records are in
a different place. What does that mean?"
In spite of any legal ambiguity,
Wood is not giving up the information without a check. Or a
fight.
"[The law] is very clear," he said. "I guess we can litigate."
By
Chris Barry - Casco Bay Weekly
Preti Flaherty has offices in Portland, Bath and Augusta, Maine, Concord, NH and Boston, MA. With more than 80 attorneys, the firm counsels clients in the areas of business law, energy, environmental, estate planning, health care, intellectual property, labor and employment, legislative and regulatory, litigation, technology and telecommunications.
