Alabama Police Will Delete Victim Names from Public Record

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Alabama’s Criminal Justice Information Center Commission, which sets administrative policy for the state’s law enforcement agencies, voted to remove victims’ names from the public portion of police reports beginning in June. The decision, which makes release of a victim’s name discretionary with police, came over the objection of media and other open government advocates. Under the new procedure, police incident reports would still include the age, gender and race of the crime’s victim on the front page, which is part of the public record, but the name of the victim would be moved to the non-public back page. (1/20/06)