Court: Release records

• By JOE GYAN JR.
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Oct 11, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A state appellate court ruled Friday that internal affairs records from a probe into claims of Baton Rouge police misconduct after Hurricane Katrina must be released to the public.

A five-judge panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal found that the police officers under investigation had “no individual privacy interest’’ in the files, but said there is “a strong public interest’’ in their disclosure.

“We find that the trial court erred in not ordering disclosure of the records’’ after some “protected’’ information had been blacked out, 1st Circuit Judge James Kuhn wrote for the panel.

The vote was 4-1 to reverse a January 2007 decision by state District Judge Kay Bates.

Lloyd Lunceford, an attorney for The Advocate, which sued to get the records, said the 1st Circuit ruling is not only a victory for the newspaper but also a “vindication of every citizen’s right to be reasonably informed about the operation of his or her own government.’’

The 1st Circuit directed the Baton Rouge Police Department and Metro Council to make available to The Advocate a copy of the Internal Affairs files — minus the protected information — within 10 days of the finality of the court’s ruling.

Any appeal would delay that finality.

“The (state) Supreme Court may have the last say on the thing,’’ said Daniel Avant, an attorney for the Baton Rouge Police union. He declined further comment because he had not spoken with his client.

Carl Redman, executive editor of The Advocate, said the ruling “gives the public a window into how the Police Department polices its own.’’

“We are still talking with our legal counsel about whether this has opened that window wide enough,’’ he said. “But clearly, the public is well served by a ruling that supports the public’s right to know.’’

The internal-affairs probe  began after state troopers from Michigan and New Mexico, who were in East Baton Rouge Parish to assist after Katrina hit in August 2005, pulled out of Baton Rouge after allegedly witnessing inappropriate conduct by local police.

New Mexico troopers reported seeing Baton Rouge officers damage property, fire Tasers at people who were not under arrest and punch handcuffed suspects. The allegations were raised against five officers.

The Advocate sued after an attempt to get the internal-affairs information via a public records request failed.