Judges: JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL, Attorney General
Filed Date: 11/12/2008
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Dear Ms. Moses-Fields:
Our office received an opinion request from you regarding the use of portable scanners by reporters for the purpose of scanning police incident reports and other records from the New Orleans Police Department. Your letter states that your office has concerns about the use of this equipment to view public records because of the ease of manipulation of the records and the financial impact of using portable scanners in lieu of paying for copies of the public records.
The right of access to public information is guaranteed by La.Const. art. 12, § 3, which provides, "[n]o person shall be denied the right to observe the deliberations of public bodies and examine public documents, except in cases established by law." The Public Records Act, which can be found at La.R.S.
Your letter concedes that the documents requested clearly fall within the definition of public records available for inspection under Title 44 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes. Pursuant to La.R.S.
The Louisiana Supreme Court has addressed whether or not the clerk of court could be forced to permit microfilming of conveyance and mortgage records. Id. Finding the president of the title company was entitled to bring his own equipment to reproduce the records at issue, the Court held:
As a qualified member of the public, Mr. Heeter is entitled to inspect, copy, reproduce, or obtain a reproduction of the requested public records. He has chosen to reproduce the records, in toto, by means of microphotographic reproduction techniques. He has chosen the method, and the clerk-custodian may not inquire into his choice of medium.
Id. at 938.
The Third Circuit allowed an abstractor to install a copy machine to enforce his right to copy public records in Cummings v. Kempf,
La.R.S.
After this amendment, the right of a requestor to inspect and make copies has continued to be guaranteed by Louisiana's Public Records Act. In 1997, the Fourth Circuit maintained the view of the Louisiana Supreme Court that the person making the public records request has the choice of the method in which he wishes to exercise his right to view records under La.R.S.
Directly applicable to your opinion request, the issue of using a handheld scanner came before the Second Circuit in First Commerce TitleCompany v. Martin, 38,903, (La.App. 2 Cir. 11/17/04),
Considering the fact that the New Orleans Police Department is not an office of the clerk, the above-mentioned jurisprudence, and consistent with the rights guaranteed to the public by the Public Records Act, our office is of the opinion that portable hand-held scanners may be used for the purpose of scanning police incident reports. Although you voice concerns about the mutability of records once they are on a hand-held scanner, the image produced from a reporter scanning the documents at your office would be no different than the image produced from a reporter scanning a copy you provided to him for a fee. Additionally, as jurisprudence has noted, the right of a public entity to charge a fee for producing copies does not entitle a public entity to charge a fee for requestors to view and scan the documents themselves. Therefore, the financial impact to your office is not sufficient justification to deny rights afforded to an individual under the Public Records Act.
We hope that this opinion has adequately addressed the legal issues that you have raised. If our office can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
With best regards,
JAMES D. "BUDDY" CALDWELL
ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY: __________________________
Emalie A. Boyce
Assistant Attorney General
JDC: EAB