Gwinnett Daily Post
05/21/08

By Josh Green
Staff Writer
josh.green@gwinnettdailypost.com

LAWRENCEVILLE ‹ The Gwinnett County Police Department activated a paperless police report system last weekend ‹ a measure meant to conserve funds within the department but which effectively eliminates public access to the majority of reports. Georgia¹s Open Records Act, or ³Sunshine Laws,² provides the public with broad access to governmental records and documents. This includes police reports. News media and citizens can still request a specific report ‹ at a fee of 25 cents per page. However, by utilizing the paperless system, supported by Copperfire Software, reporters are restricted from checking daily reports compiled by Gwinnett police ‹ the fodder for police blotter and more substantial news stories alike. The popular ³Police Briefs² column, compiled daily by Post staff, must be discontinued without access to daily reports.

The Copperfire Software system was paid for as part of a county-funded $700,000 upgrade to the police records system and software licensing, said Gwinnett police spokesman Officer David Schiralli. Schiralli said the system eliminates the thousands of paper reports generated by the department each week, saving the county an unspecified amount in paper costs and streamlining the filing process. It took effect at 9 a.m. Sunday. Police officials notified Gwinnett news media of the change at a meeting the following day. ³We went to the paperless system for the department¹s sake,² said Schiralli. ³We¹re not here to sell papers. We¹re here to help the county in its ways.² Schiralli maintained that Gwinnett police are ³the only agency of our size² that had supplied most daily police reports ³as a courtesy² for public review. Reports detailing highly sensitive cases, such as alleged child abuse, were sometimes weeded out, he said. The Gwinnett police legal department ‹ along with the department¹s top brass ‹ are reviewing the matter to make sure it complies with the Freedom Of Information Act, Schiralli said.

Hollie Manheimer, executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, said providing the public and press with these reports is not a ³courtesy.² And not making the public documents available for inspection in fact is in violation of the Georgia Open Records Act. Manheimer cited a statute in that document that stipulates, ³All public records of an agency ... shall be open for a personal inspection by any citizen of this state at a reasonable time and place; and those in charge of such records shall not refuse this privilege to any citizen.² Manheimer said the review of public documents ³is part of the public¹s watchdog function. A citizen¹s access to public documents should not be screened through a public employee,² she said. Schiralli said police have been ³brainstorming² with Copperfire Software officials this week to find ³some sort of happy medium² that allows public access to information while improving department efficiency. A system could be devised that ciphers out too-sensitive electronic reports on a daily basis, he said.

³Until we figure something out, you guys are going to have to wait,² Schiralli said. ³We have no problem with supplying (requested) reports ‹ it¹s just you don¹t have a smorgasbord of reports to go through each day.² Also during the Monday meeting, police officials announced the county¹s new $34 million digital radio system should be active by December. The digital system will allow police to communicate with other jurisdictions, eliminate ³dead patches² of coverage, and prevent crooks from listening to police radio traffic, Schiralli said. The system is also faster, clearer and capable of handling more radio channels, he said. But the change eliminates public access to police radio traffic, which is frequently monitored by media and police scanner hobbyists.