The Connecticut Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires law enforcement agencies to disclose certain information about a person’s arrest. (CGS § 1-215). In a recent case (Commissioner of Public Safety v. Freedom of Information Commission), the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that, during a pending prosecution, the agency must release only the arrest information specified in the statute.
The case stems from a 1993 state supreme court case and legislation passed in its aftermath. In Gifford v. Freedom of Information Commission, 227 Conn. 641 (1993), the court considered whether FOIA at that time required the disclosure of a police report during a pending criminal prosecution. The court held that, during a pending prosecution, an agency had to disclose only the name and address of the person arrested; the date, time, and place of the arrest; and the offense for which he or she was arrested.
In response, the legislature passed PA 94-246, which expanded the disclosure requirement to include at least (1) the arrest report, (2) the incident report, or (3) a news release or similar report of the arrest. The act gave the agency the discretion to determine which of these reports to release.
In the most recent case (Commissioner of Public Safety) the Freedom of Information Commission argued that, in requiring the disclosure of certain arrest information, CGS § 1-215 does not allow agencies to withhold other records from disclosure. Rather, it argued that PA 94-246 made those records subject to disclosure under FOIA generally, and the agency must cite a specific FOIA exemption in order to withhold them.
In rejecting this argument, the court noted that PA 94-246 did not disturb the holding in Gifford that, during pending prosecutions, CGS § 1-215 governs agencies’ disclosure obligations. Instead, the act simply required the agencies to disclose certain additional information.
