N. Police records.

Statutes requiring or authorizing the withholding of police records include the Public Records Act, the Criminal Justice Information Systems Privacy and Security Act (AS 12.62), and AS 28.15.151, dealing with drivers' records and traffic reports. See also, the provisions of Title 47 dealing with records pertaining to juveniles.

[These laws, and cases addressing these issues, are dealt with in the excellent and comprehensive survey of the law governing access to police records contained in the Nov. 25, 1994, Op. Att'y Gen. No. 663-93-0039 (referred to hereafter as "1994 Police Records AG Opinion."). While most of this remains applicable, some, particularly cites referring to reconfigured statutes dealing with children-in-need-of-aid and juvenile delinquency, have changed and the statutes themselves should always be consulted.]

Police records are specifically addressed in the Public Records Act, as a result of a 1990 amendment that added AS 40.25.120(6). This exception to the general public right to inspect public records provides that an agency may withhold:

Records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of the law enforcement records or information

(A) could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings,

(B) would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication,

(C) could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of a suspect, defendant, victim or witness,

(D) could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source,

(E) would disclose confidential techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions,

(F) would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigation or prosecution if the disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law.

The addition of subsection .120(6) (which mirrors the federal FOIA provisions for law enforcement records, and was substantially copied by subsequent amendment of the Anchorage Municipal Code) simply codified what was generally understood to be the prevailing common law, and was consistent with an earlier superior court case granting access to a police tape recording. Anchorage Daily News v. Municipality of Anchorage, 11 Media L. Rptr. 2173 (Alaska Super. Ct., 3rd Jud. Dist., April 26, 1985). There, the court ordered release of tape recorded conversations between a police officer and a municipal assembly member stopped for a traffic violation. The court stated that in order to construe the municipal ordinance exempting police records as being consistent with state law, police records must be disclosed, at least when a case is closed and in the absence of other circumstances that compel continued withholding, such as endangerment of witnesses and disclosure of confidential informants or investigative techniques.

In Ramsey v. City of Sand Point, 936 P.2d 126, 135 (Alaska 1997), a city police chief claimed that he was entitled to obtain, either through discovery or through the Public Records Act, all documents concerning the arrest or other police contact of the council members, the mayor, and the people who signed the petition to oust him as police chief. With respect to the Public Records Act aspect of the claim, the Court said the City was justified in withholding the documents pursuant to AS 09.25.120(a) [since renumbered as AS 40.25.120(a)], which allows anyone to inspect public records except "(6) records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of the law enforcement records or information . . . (C) could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of a suspect, defendant, victim or witness . . . ." The Court said citizens of the community had a reasonable expectation that their contacts with the police department will not be publicly disclosed simply because they signed a petition. Id.

Records that are otherwise public remain subject to disclosure when they are used for, included in, or relevant to law enforcement proceedings and other litigation. AS 40.25.122. This clarification was added in 1990 to avoid repetitions of problems such as occurred when the Department of Law took custody of public records of the Department of Administration during an investigation of Sheffield administration procurement practices, and withheld them because they were allegedly part of a law enforcement investigation.

The Alaska Rules of Court were revised in 1989 to exempt search warrants and related affidavits, receipts and inventories from disclosure until after an indictment is returned, except upon a showing of good cause, and to make these documents presumptively public after charges are filed. Ak.R.Cr.P. 37(e).

One very important caveat qualifies everything stated in this section about access to police records, and potentially limits access to the individual items discussed below that is the effect of the Criminal Justice Information System Privacy and Security Act. See AS 12.62. This statute, and regulations adopted pursuant to it, see 13 AAC 68.005 - .905, significantly limit access to criminal justice information maintained on government computers, but not otherwise.