Work progresses on Incident Report bill
A bill will soon be introduced in the Mississippi House of Representatives that would establish minimum requirements for information made available to the press and public from law enforcement incident reports.
Member papers are urged to contact members of the Legislature representing their areas to voice support for the measure as it makes its way through the House.
Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Lloyd Gray, MPA director Carolyn Wilson, President Marcus Bowers and Legislative Consultant John Sullivan, along with input from attorney Leonard Van Slyke and MCFOI’s Barbara Powell, teleconferenced this week about strategy and making sure the bill is entered for consideration by the deadline. Contacts have also been made with members of the Legislature who share MPA’s desire to make incident reporting more accessible to the public.
GAC members met with Attorney General Jim Hood and Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck in October to generate support for the effort, which is aimed directly at making specific information on police and sheriff department reports available for inspection by the public. Similar efforts have died in recent sessions, but clarifications on behalf of MPA as to what specific information is sought have helped generate more interest and apparent support in the 2007 session.
Monday is the deadline for introduction of bills and amendments.