BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials say forms they've adopted to handle Freedom of Information Act requests are record-keeping tools and not required of people who seek information.
The Benton County Sheriff's Office and the Office of Emergency Communications have forms they use when people ask for public records. The forms have sections where the person making the request can describe in detail the records they are seeking, but also ask for names, phone numbers and email addresses.
Open records
Information about Arkansas’s Freedom of Information Act is regularly updated and collected in the Freedom of Information Handbook. Copies of the handbook are available in PDF form at the Arkansas Press Association website at arkansaspress.org under the APA Publications section.
Source: Staff report
The Sheriff's Office form also asks for the person's address. It also asks the person making the request how much they are willing to pay and to identify themselves as: an individual making the request; a member of the news media; if they are affiliated with an educational or noncommercial scientific institution; or if they are with a corporation and are making the request for the company's business.
John Tull, a lawyer for the Arkansas Press Association, said there is a fine line when governments deal with requests for public information. Some people, he said, may not obtain information they are legally entitled to because they're unwilling to go through a lengthy process or are concerned about the government asking them for information as a condition of obtaining the information.
"I am concerned that it's a chilling effect on the use of the act, asking people why they want the information," Tull said.
George Spence, county attorney, said initially Wednesday he hadn't seen the forms or been consulted about their use. Later Wednesday, Spence said he discussed the forms with both offices and is satisfied with their understanding of the law and the use of the forms.
"They understand that they can have the forms, but they can't require anybody to fill it out," Spence said. "They know that the law allows requests to be made verbally, in writing or by smoke signal. They use this for their convenience."
Sheriff Meyer Gilbert didn't respond to messages left at his office Wednesday.
Marshal Watson, the county emergency service administrator who oversees the emergency communications center, said to his knowledge that office never refused a request for information unless the Prosecuting Attorney's office advised them the information was part of an ongoing investigation. The form is for record keeping and not meant to hinder access to information, Watson said.
"Simply put, it's for our own benefit," Watson said of the form. "A lot of times when people come in looking for information it's not clear exactly what they're looking for. It's strictly voluntary. The intent is to help us provide the information."
The law specifies information is to be made available to "any citizen of the State of Arkansas.” Agencies can ask questions of people to be certain they meet that requirement, Spence said.
Correction
The state’s Freedom of Information Act allows the examination and copying of public records by any “citizen of the State of Arkansas.” A previous version of this story incorrectly paraphrased that portion of the law. The error has been corrected.
Tull said that may be correct, but wondered why a governmental agency would choose to do so.
"My response is always 'What do you have to hide?'" Tull said. "Why are you doing this?"
The Washington County Sheriff's Office has forms for Freedom of Information requests, according to Maj. Rick Hoyt with the enforcement division, who oversees the records department. Hoyt agreed the forms can be helpful to the agency, but said there's no effort made to require people provide the information.
"We've had people refuse to fill it out and in that case we fill it out," Hoyt said. "We've had people come in and refuse to tell us who they are or why they want it. They just say, 'Tell me when it'll be done and I'll be back then.' The law does apply to citizens, but we know they can go down the street and get a lawyer or just someone off the street to come in and make the request for them and we'd have to give it to them."
The Washington County Sheriff's Office makes certain all employees who may deal with Freedom of Information Act requests are familiar with the law and the policies of the Sheriff's Office, Hoyt said.
"We don't require it because we know what the law says," Hoyt said. "We've been through this before and we know we would lose that fight. A simple verbal request is enough to initiate the FOI search."
NW News on 06/30/2016