Commercial Appeal: Focus on police shootings draws attention to policy secrecy

By |2017-03-21T16:59:32-05:00January 5, 2016|Categories: crime records, Legislature|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Marc Perrusquia of The Commercial Appeal Memphis investigative reporter Marc Perrusquia provided an outstanding overview in The Commercial Appeal on Sunday of the legal exemption for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that allows it to keep files of long-closed cases confidential forever. A movement to open records of closed TBI cases -- at least for investigations into police shootings where citizens have been killed -- started last year as the city of Memphis began to grapple with the number of deaths, including a recent fatal shooting of a black teenager Darrius Stewart. The story is reprinted here, with permission from The Commercial Appeal: Tennessee not alone in sealing police investigations. By Marc [...]