Commercial Appeal Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

16 Nov, 2018

Memphis considers using code names for companies getting economic development incentives

By Deborah Fisher|2018-11-16T11:47:08-06:00November 16, 2018|Categories: Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Al Bright, Commercial Appeal, economic development, EDGE, Memphis, Richard Smith, State Rep. Sam Whitson|0 Comments

The Economic and Development Growth Engine Board for Memphis (EDGE) is seeking at Attorney General's opinion on whether it can use code names to keep secret from the public the identity of companies before it votes to award the companies government cash grants and other economic development incentives. Al Bright chairman of the Memphis Economic Development and Growth Engine, said if using code names for companies when voting on cash grants and incentives instead of publicly disclosing identities would encourage more businesses to come to Memphis, "by all means, we need to do it." The attorney for the board told the Commercial Appeal (Companies seeking tax breaks from [...]

22 Feb, 2016

CA: Indefinite holding of police body-cam video would destroy purpose of having the cameras

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-22T07:53:12-06:00February 22, 2016|Categories: crime records|Tags: Commercial Appeal, crime records, Doug McGowen, Lucian Pera, Memphis, police body cameras, video|0 Comments

The Commercial Appeal makes the point in an editorial over the weekend that a proposed policy to keep body cam video confidential until after an investigation into a police-involved shooting is finished could mean months or even years before citizens get to see it. Following is the Commercial Appeal's editorial, reprinted here with permission: During discussions at Memphis City Council meetings about the use of police body cameras, a point was made that should put citizens on alert. Memphis Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen, talking about proposed policy issues regarding the use and release of body-camera video to the public, proffered that the Police Department would deny any records requests related [...]

17 Feb, 2016

Memphis presents policy to deny access to body cam video, moves forward with purchase

By Deborah Fisher|2016-02-17T08:22:09-06:00February 17, 2016|Categories: crime records|Tags: Commercial Appeal, Lucian Pera, Memphis, police body cameras, Sevier County, TBI|0 Comments

The Commercial Appeal reports today that the city of Memphis is moving ahead with a multimillion-dollar plan to equip its police officers with body cams, but also presented a policy that would deny citizen requests to see video from the cameras if the video is related to an ongoing investigation. This would include incidents that involve an officer-involved shooting, Memphis Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen told council members. The proposed policy on access to video was not voted upon, and McGowen said the policy could be adjusted if it's not working, according to the Commercial Appeal. Lucian Pera, the Commercial Appeal's attorney, and president of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, was quoted [...]