Caledonian Record Pub. Co. v. Walton

• Decision Date: 02 March 1990
• Docket Number: No. 88-293,88-293
• Citation: 154 Vt. 15,573 A.2d 296
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court
• Parties: , 18 Media L. Rep. 1965 CALEDONIAN RECORD PUBLISHING CO. v. A. James WALTON, Commissioner, Vt. Department of Public Safety and Town of St. Johnsbury.

Page 296

573 A.2d 296

154 Vt. 15, 18 Media L. Rep. 1965

CALEDONIAN RECORD PUBLISHING CO. v. A. James WALTON, Commissioner, Vt. Department of Public Safety and Town of St. Johnsbury.

No. 88-293.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

March 2, 1990.

James C. Gallagher and Andre D. Bouffard of Downs Rachlin & Martin, Burlington, for plaintiff-appellee.

James R. Crucitti and Neil Nulty, Law Clerk (on the brief), Waterbury, for defendants-appellants Walton and Dept. of Public Safety.

Zuccaro Willis and Bent, St. Johnsbury, for defendant-appellant Town of St. Johnsbury.

John H. Fitzhugh of Sheehey Brue Gray & Furlong, Burlington, for amicus curiae Mt. Mansfield Television.

Before ALLEN, C.J., and PECK, ¹ GIBSON, DOOLEY and MORSE, JJ.

DOOLEY, Justice.

The parties appeal the order of the superior court which requires defendants to disclose to plaintiff the names of persons cited or arrested by defendants and the charges against these persons, unless there is an ongoing investigation. Defendants appeal the portion of the order which requires them to disclose the names of persons who have been issued a citation while plaintiff appeals the portion of the order which permits nondisclosure of the names when there is an ongoing investigation. We find that pursuant to Vermont's Access to Public Records Act, 1 V.S.A. §§ 315-320 (Act), citation records are public records and affirm the order after striking the exception for ongoing investigations.

The parties stipulated to the following facts. On April 2, 1988, the Vermont State Police, an agency of the Vermont Department of Public Safety, and the St. Johnsbury Police (SJPD) searched a residence in the Town of St. Johnsbury and seized nine marijuana plants and other evidence of marijuana cultivation. The occupant of the residence was taken into involuntary custody and brought to the State Police barracks in St. Johnsbury, where he was processed on the charge of cultivation of marijuana. The individual was then released upon a citation, pursuant to V.R.Cr.P. 3, which ordered him to appear in court on May 16, 1988. The State Police issued a press release concerning this incident, but declined to release the individual's name or address. Both the State Police and the SJPD refused to disclose the name of the individual cited. ²

Prior to the fall of 1987, the SJPD routinely disclosed the names of persons arrested or cited for alleged violations of the criminal laws. In the fall of 1987, however, the SJPD revised its policy and presently only discloses the names of persons arrested and retained in custody, but not the names of persons who are given citations and then released under V.R.Cr.P. 3(c).

The parties raise two issues on appeal. The first issue is whether the Access to Public Records Act, 1 V.S.A. §§ 315-320, permits public access to citations. ³ The second issue presented is whether the Vermont and Federal Constitutions mandate public access to citations. Because we find that citation records must be disclosed under the Access to Public Records statutes, we do not address the constitutional issue.

Vermont's Access to Public Records statutes begins with a broad policy statement which states in part:

It is the policy of this subchapter to provide for free and open examination of records consistent with Chapter I, Article 6 of the Vermont Constitution. ⁴ Officers of government are trustees and servants of the people and it is in the public interest to enable any person to review and criticize their decisions even though such examination may cause inconvenience or embarrassment. All people, however, have a right to privacy in their personal and economic pursuits, which ought to be protected unless specific information is needed to review the action of a governmental officer. Consistent with these principles, the general assembly hereby declares that certain public records shall be made available to any person as hereinafter provided.

1 V.S.A. § 315. Consistent with this broad policy statement, the Act provides that, subject only to administrative guidelines, "Any person may inspect or copy any public record or document of a public agency." 1 V.S.A. § 316. The Act also provides a sweeping definition of public record or document which is limited only by specific enumerated exceptions. The statutory definition of public record along with the exception relevant to this case is as follows:

"public record" or "public document" means all papers, staff reports, individual salaries, salary schedules or any other written or recorded matters produced or acquired in the course of agency business except: ... (5) records dealing with the detection and investigation of crime, including those maintained on any individual or compiled in the course of a criminal or disciplinary investigation by any police or professional licensing agency; provided, however, records relating to management and direction of a law enforcement agency and records reflecting the initial arrest of a person and the charge shall be public.

1 V.S.A. § 317(b)(5). ⁵

Defendants contend that the citations involved in this case are "records dealing with the detection and investigation of crime" within the meaning of § 317(b)(5) and are not "records reflecting initial arrest of a person." Plaintiff contends that citations are not records dealing with the detection and investigation of crime but, if they are, they are "records reflecting initial arrest of a person" and thus are public under the last clause of § 317(b)(5).

A citation is a direction to appear before a judicial officer at a specified place and time in order to answer a charge which is stated on the citation. See V.R.Cr.P. Form 8. It is signed by the issuing law enforcement officer. See V.R.Cr.P. 3(c)(5). Under V.R.Cr.P. 3(c), citations are issued in criminal cases as an alternative to arrest in a number of instances. In some cases, the officer must issue a citation. See V.R.Cr.P. 3(c)(1) (most misdemeanors). In others, the officer has the choice to arrest the person or issue a citation. See V.R.Cr.P. 3(c)(2), (3). In any case, an officer may "stop and briefly detain" a person in order to determine whether an arrest is appropriate and to issue a citation. V.R.Cr.P. 3(c)(1). However, if no arrest is made, such a stop and detention "shall not be deemed an arrest for any purpose." Id.

As indicated above, the statutory question before us has two parts: (1) whether a citation is a record dealing with the detection and investigation of crime; and (2) if so, whether it is an arrest record. At least initially, we find it helpful to analyze the first question in isolation from the second and to consider them in an issue not directly before us--that is, whether an arrest record is a record dealing with the detection and investigation of crime. That issue is, of course, entirely theoretical because arrest records are clearly excluded by the separate proviso. In evaluating the precedent from other jurisdictions, which lack our unique citation procedure or a separate proviso making arrest records public, we find that the theoretical question is very instructive in resolving this appeal.

We start with the statement of legislative intent in the Act: "the provisions of this subchapter shall be liberally construed with the view towards carrying out the [stated] declaration of public policy." 1 V.S.A. § 315. Additionally, we note that the public interest clearly favors the right of access to public documents and public records. See, e.g., Newspapers, Inc. v. Breier, 89 Wis.2d 417, 426, 279 N.W.2d 179, 184 (1979). Thus, the common law protects "the right in all citizens to inspect the public records and documents made and preserved by their government when not detrimental to the public interest." Matte v. City of Winooski, 129 Vt. 61, 63, 271 A.2d 830, 831 (1970). Consistent with these policies, the exceptions listed in § 317(b) should be construed strictly against the custodians of the records and any doubts should be resolved in favor of disclosure. See, e.g., State v. Lancaster Police Dept., 38 Ohio St.3d 324, 328, 528 N.E.2d 175, 178 (1988).

Although we base our decision in this case upon statutory rather than constitutional grounds, we are operating in the shadow of the First Amendment. Pursuant to the First Amendment, it is generally recognized that the public and the media have a constitutional right of access to information relating to the activities of law enforcement officers and to information concerning crime in the community. See, e.g., Houston Chronicle Publishing Co. v. City of Houston, 531 S.W.2d 177, 186 (Tex.Ct.App.1975). This right of access, however, is not unlimited. In order to determine the reach of this constitutional right, it is necessary to balance a number of competing interests.

The interest in disclosure is fairly summarized in a recent United States Supreme Court decision as follows: "The generation that made the nation thought secrecy in government one of the instruments of Old World tyranny and committed itself to the principle that a democracy cannot function unless the people are permitted to know what their government is up to." United States Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749, ----, 109 S.Ct. 1468, 1481, 103 L.Ed 2d 774 (1989) (emphasis in original) (citations omitted). This interest is particularly acute in the area of law enforcement. On the other hand, the state has significant interests in protecting the public from criminal activity, prosecuting those who commit crimes, and protecting the privacy rights of individual citizens. These interests may, at times, override the interest in public disclosure. The Public Access statute was intended to mirror the constitutional right of access, and as such, the exceptions enumerated in the statute allow a balancing of the competing interests.

In analyzing whether citations are records dealing with the investigation and detection of...