Public dispatch records must include destination, appeals board says

The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records said last week that a request for emergency response dispatch logs should have been granted with the addresses of where the dispatched police or fire units were sent, The York Daily Record reported.

The decision came in an appeal by The Daily Record of its request for the complete logs; the paper’s attempt to get the addresses had been refused. According to the news report, the paper said it argued it would be impossible to determine whether the emergency vehicles arrived in good time without knowing their destinations.

Appeals Officer Audrey Buglione wrote in the decision, according to The Daily Record, that the inclusion of addresses in time response logs indeed provides the public with "the ability to assess the efficiency of the emergency responders."

York County officials now have 30 days to appeal the decision, the paper said.