InkBlots

When Tremont residents Paula and Harold Kennedy tried to get the investigative file on the 2004 murder of the their son Brian, the couple’s requests were denied.

Although the confessed assailant committed suicide and investigators closed the case, the Kennedys were told state law prohibits their access to their son’s murder record. The Mississippi Public Records Act exempts information gathered for a criminal investigation.

An inmate’s fatal beating at the Harrison County jail in 2006 raised questions the Sun Herald believed public records could help answer.

The newspaper filed a series of public-records requests with the Sheriff’s Department, but the agency denied most of the requests, claiming the documents were not public records because they were part of a criminal investigation.

In a meeting with reporters in December, new Jackson Police Chief Malcolm McMillin made clear his policy toward providing information to media.

“We’re not going to have any bull- over here about what you are entitled to,” he said. “I’ve had good media relations for 16 years, and I’m not going to change that now.”

Several recent examples, however, show McMillin has limits to how open he’ll be.

MORE:

• The Sun Herald: “The need for a cooperative relationship between the press and the police cannot be overstated. Working together, these two professions can better serve - and protect - the public.”
• Officials in a random sample of Mississippi cities said they would release weekly tallies of reported crimes to anyone who asked, but the director of a crime watchdog group said she has had trouble with some jurisdictions.
• The Clarion-Ledger: “Public safety is a basic function of government and one of the most important issues when it comes to citizen involvement. Yet, information about crimes and the activities of law enforcement is often hidden from the public.”
• SID SALTER: “Give (Attorney General Jim) Hood his due — he has paid prior lip service to wanting campaign finance reform. But lacking the ability to provide any leadership toward getting those reforms enacted, Hood went about his merry way engaging in some of the campaign finance practices he said Monday should be remedied.”
• The Bolivar Commercial: “’I’ve Got A Secret’ is the name of a dangerous game state politicos love to play. And they do so with gusto…The exceptions that plague the Mississippi Open Meetings Act and the Public Records Act have made governmental bodies in our state some of the most secretive bodies in America.”