Few Details Given On Official’s Arrest Paper’s Lawyer Says Police Broke Public Records Law

The Spokane Police Department violated state public records law by refusing to release information on the arrest of a city official, an attorney for The Spokesman-Review said Monday.

“I don’t believe they’re in conformance with the law,” attorney Duane Swinton said.

Citing the Washington State Open Records Act, the newspaper requested all police reports regarding the third-degree assault arrest of Milton Rowland, a senior Spokane city attorney.

The paper also asked for Rowland’s jail booking photograph.

Rowland, 43, was arrested May 30 after police said he punched an officer in the jaw following an early morning car wreck. He was booked into jail and released on his own recognizance later that day.

Formal charges have yet to be filed.

Police officials denied the request for the photograph, citing guidelines established in 1983 by a committee of representatives from the media and the judicial system.

The “Bench-Bar-Press” guidelines state that “photographs of a suspect may be released by law enforcement personnel provided a valid law enforcement function is served thereby.”

Swinton said the guidelines do not supersede the state’s open records laws.

“They’re just advisory,” he said. “They are not binding on anybody.”

The department’s response to the records request was to turn over a simple “face sheet” that listed Rowland’s name and brief biographical information, the location and time of the incident and the officers involved.

The charge was blacked out on the report and no details of the incident were released.

Police spokesman Dick Cottam did read portions of the complete report to a Spokesman-Review reporter over the telephone a few days after the arrest.

In a letter to the paper, police records manager Mike Busby cited exemptions to open records laws and Bench-Bar-Press guidelines to justify his decision to withhold further information.

“Exempted information is necessary to protect the integrity of the case and to protect the constitutional rights of the accused during the criminal justice process,” Busby said in his letter.

The department “recognizes the importance of an informed public” but also respects a suspect’s presumption of innocence, Busby wrote.

Spokesman-Review Editor Chris Peck said the Bench-Bar-Press principles also state that journalists should decide what is news and that the public is entitled to know how justice is being administered.

“The release of reports and mug shots are part of showing how justice is administered,” said Peck, adding that such information is regularly given out by departments in other cities.

The newspaper hopes to reach an accord with the police department, but is considering legal options, Peck said.

, DataTimes