A Free Press Needs Open Records: Challenging St. Louis Police Secrecy

In early 2024 a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter requested police records about a fatal fall from a building that occurred in May 2020. The reporter specifically asked for both the “incident report” and any related “investigative reports.”

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department provided a heavily redacted incident report. It also provided a “supplemental report” that was completely redacted. The Department failed to provide any other investigative records.

Missouri’s Sunshine Law states that all “incident reports” are open records. It also states that “investigative reports” become public records when an investigation becomes inactive. The police department’s own report listed the investigation as “inactive” since June 2020.

The lawsuit argues the Department violated the Sunshine Law by redacting the police officer narratives from the incident report without citing a specific statute that might have authorized its redactions. Indeed, the statutes the Department cited specifically requires incident reports and investigative reports to be open under the circumstances of this case.

The Goldwater Institute is litigating this case to enforce government transparency. Police departments cannot arbitrarily decide what the public gets to know about their work. The public has a right to see how police investigate incidents and determine for themselves if their law enforcement officers have performed their duties with the diligence that public safety and confidence require.

A victory will affirm that the Sunshine Law means what it says. It will require police to release basic facts about incidents they investigate, including the written observations of the officers who report to the scene of an incident or suspected crime. This ensures the public can hold law enforcement accountable and maintain trust in public institutions.