Your Records, Your Right: Goldwater Fights a Sheriff’s Office That Ignored the Law

A Camden County resident requested police records related to two incident reports he filed against a neighbor in 2022. The resident, who was directly involved in the incidents, specifically invoked his right under Missouri law to receive “a complete unaltered and unedited incident report.”

The Camden County Sheriff’s Office initially declined to provide any records at all, then months later provided redacted, incomplete versions of the reports. The office incorrectly claimed the incident reports did not exist as separate documents, withheld other clearly responsive records, and ignored a subsequent request entirely. The office failed to cite any statute justifying its redactions or withholdings.

Missouri’s Sunshine Law states that all “incident reports” are open records. A special provision grants any person “involved in an incident” an unequivocal right to an unedited report to investigate a civil claim. An agency’s only recourse is to ask a court for permission to withhold within 30 days, which the defendant did not do here.

The lawsuit argues the Sheriff’s Office committed multiple knowing and purposeful violations of the law. It obstructed access, provided false information, and failed to conduct basic searches for records.

The Goldwater Institute is litigating this case to enforce government transparency and punish deliberate obstruction. Law enforcement agencies cannot ignore the clear rights of citizens, falsely deny the existence of records, or force citizens to sue to access public information.

A victory will affirm that the Sunshine Law’s special protections for involved persons are mandatory, not optional. It will establish that agencies cannot delay, obscure, or lie about records to avoid accountability, ensuring the public can trust that transparency laws have real teeth.