VC v. Casady
| Decision Date | 26 October 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. S-99-1435.,S-99-1435. |
| Citation | 262 Neb. 714,634 N.W.2d 798 |
| Parties | V.C., Appellant, v. Thomas K. CASADY, chief of police, city of Lincoln, Nebraska, Police Department, and Don Leuenberger, director, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Appellees. |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
John E. Beltzer, of DeCamp Legal Services, P.C., Lincoln, for appellant.
Dana W. Roper, Lincoln City Attorney, and Connor L. Reuter, Lincoln, for appellee Thomas K. Casady.
V.C., the appellant, sued Thomas K. Casady, chief of the Lincoln Police Department (LPD), and Don Leuenberger, director of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), seeking an order directing Casady and Leuenberger to expunge any record of an LPD investigation into an allegation that the appellant had sexually molested a child, C.C., who was then 9 years old. The district court determined that it had jurisdiction to issue such an order, but that the appellant was not entitled to relief. The appellant filed this appeal.
On May 23, 1996, a police officer with the LPD generated an incident report based on information provided to him by C.C.'s mother and by a Lincoln attorney. The police officer was first called by the attorney, who was representing the mother in a custody dispute with C.C.'s father. The attorney reported that the mother thought that C.C. might have been sexually abused by the appellant, a friend of the father's. The police officer later received a telephone call from the mother and proceeded to investigate.
As part of his investigation, the police officer interviewed C.C. at C.C.'s school. The police officer also spoke to the counselor at C.C.'s school and reviewed a deposition of the father that had been in the possession of the mother's attorney. The police officer then dictated a supplemental investigation report. The police officer concluded that there was no evidence of a sexual assault. Since there was no evidence of a crime, no charges were filed.
Briefly summarized, the police officer's supplementary investigation report states that while there was no evidence that the appellant had abused C.C., the police officer did find the appellant's relationship with the child to be peculiar and inappropriate and expressed these concerns to C.C. and the father. The report recounts the mother's explanation of the situation to the police officer as follows: The mother had been employed in the appellant's office, and the appellant became acquainted with C.C. when the mother brought C.C. to work. The appellant became C.C.'s godfather and became extremely involved in C.C.'s life. The mother became concerned and began restricting the appellant's contact with C.C. The mother then left the appellant's employment. According to the police officer's recitation of the mother's statements, the appellant then befriended the father and provided the father with substantial financial support in exchange for being permitted to spend time with C.C.
Casady testified regarding the LPD's retention and use of police reports. Generally, Casady drew a distinction between incident reports and investigation reports.
Incident reports are maintained as both a hard copy of a written report and as an electronic record containing some of the information on the officer's written report. Incident reports contain the name of the victim, but not the name of any suspects. The incident report in this case, contained in exhibit 3, identifies only C.C. as the victim and the LPD officer who prepared the report.
The electronic incident report records are accessible to the LPD's police officers and civilian employees who have been determined to need access to those records in the course of their duties. Police incident reports are public records, available to the general public upon request. In addition, the FBI is provided with and maintains records of code numbers, the nature of the event, and the date of each incident report for the purpose of compiling national crime statistics, but the FBI does not have access to the report and is not given any identifying information.
A supplementary investigation report is a narrative report about any case or information that an officer cares to prepare. Such a report names all the persons involved in the case, including suspects. These reports are electronic records and are not regularly kept as hard copies. They may be accessed by the LPD's police officers and civilian employees who need to access them. Case investigation reports and additional case investigation reports are maintained as hard copies, and not as electronic records. They include names and details of the investigation.
Investigation reports are not available to the general public, including victims, without a subpoena or a court order. Governmental officials or agencies charged with criminal investigatory responsibilities may be provided with copies of such reports upon request. Such officials or agencies include federal law enforcement agencies, courts, probation officers, probation departments in Nebraska, and DHHS in child abuse and neglect investigations. Military agencies charged by law with criminal investigative responsibility, such as the Naval Investigative Service, might also access investigation reports. Federal civil service personnel, however, would not be able to get copies of investigation reports.
The LPD has extensive rules and regulations about the distribution of information that are rigorously enforced. Reports are kept in a secure area and, when discarded, are securely recycled and destroyed.
Casady also testified at length regarding the utility of such records to the LPD. Casady stated that the reports document the LPD's investigation in the event that questions arise about whether an investigation has been handled properly; for instance, Casady noted that police investigations sometimes result in litigation. Casady also stated that the reports preserve a record of the investigation in case allegations are made in the future, either by C.C. or against the appellant. Casady also testified that the reports would provide documentation if C.C. was ever convicted of a crime and his childhood history was a relevant issue in sentencing.
Casady stated that if anyone ever wanted testimony from the investigating police officer or anyone else at the LPD regarding the investigation, the police reports would provide the only record. Casady also testified that the reports help him to provide oversight to ensure competent investigations, noting that there is occasionally a need to investigate the death of a child regarding whom there have been previous reports or referrals. Casady testified that in his opinion, there is a valid place in police reports for clearly noted opinions.
Casady admitted that if there was some way of guaranteeing that nothing would ever come up in the future that would involve this case, then the police reports would have no continuing utility.
The appellant filed an "Amended Petition in Equity" against Casady, alleging that the LPD reports on file were untrue and injurious to his reputation. The appellant sought to require Casady to deliver to him all of the LPD documents and records in the case. The appellant also asked the district court to order Casady to purge the LPD records and to identify all the persons who had been informed of the records. The appellant's petition also named Leuenberger and the Lancaster County Attorney as parties and sought to compel those parties to purge their records as well.
The district court subsequently sustained a demurrer by the Lancaster County Attorney and dismissed him from the case. The district court overruled demurrers filed by Casady and Leuenberger, concluding that the district court had the power to act in equity even in the absence of legislative authority. The court ruled, however, that trial was to be limited to the records themselves, concluding that since the relevant issue was the harm that could be done by the records, any attempt to attack the veracity of the records was irrelevant.
At trial, the appellant made several offers of proof regarding evidence that was intended to undermine the credibility of the facts and conclusions stated in the police reports. A lawyer, who defended the appellant with respect to charges made by the mother in a separate civil proceeding, would have testified that the mother's attorney told this lawyer that if the appellant stopped helping the father in his custody proceeding, another civil action brought by the mother against the appellant would "go away." This testimony was excluded as irrelevant.
A licensed clinical psychologist would have testified that he had met with and assessed the appellant to determine if there was evidence of pedophilic tendencies. The psychologist would have testified that he reviewed the police report and concluded that there was no evidence that the appellant had pedophilic tendencies. Casady's relevance objection was sustained.
C.C.'s father would have testified about his contact with the LPD investigating officer and the events of the investigation. The appellant would have testified about his relationship with C.C. and why the appellant took the interest in C.C. that he did. Relevance objections were sustained to this proffered testimony. Attempts to attack the accuracy of statements in the reports were also made during the investigating officer's testimony, but Casady's objection was sustained, and the testimony was stricken. In addition, the district court excluded the deposition of an employee of the appellant and the deposition of the mother, which the appellant offered to further attack the substance of the police reports.
The appellant was permitted to testify at trial regarding the...
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