On Tuesday, SanJose.com reported on how a committee, headed by the Mayor, will decide whether to succumb to pressure by journalists and citizens’ groups to release information that the SJPD says will invade privacy and hinder its ability to fight crime. Despite promises for greater transparency in his administration, Reed and the panel rejected the two requests for information.
In the first case, Nicholas Todd Shackelford claims that the police were wrongly summoned to his home during a domestic dispute. He contends that the caller made a false report, causing distress to him, his wife, and their five-year-old daughter. Police claim that 911 calls are exempt from disclosure. The panel agreed with the police, with Vice Mayor Judy Chirco calling the request to release information “almost vindictive.”
The second request, by John Colby of Santa Cruz, was for a list of arrest warrants issued for a San Jose woman currently living in an apartment complex supposedly infested with gang-related activities. In this instance, the panel accepted the SJPD’s claim that they had already given the petitioner all of the information that have.
Read More at the Mercury News.
