St. Paul Police Chief Defends Subpoena of Reporter’s Phone Records

· Story link

St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington defended the action of his department in using a sealed subpoena to obtain the telephone records of a television reporter but said he regrets the “concern or worry” it caused among reporters. He said that if such a step were to be taken again, the reporter and his or her news organization would be notified first. He said police were trying to verify the identity of a sheriff’s deputy to pulled and gave to the reporter a public record that city policy had denied the reporter. (12/14/07)