Horry police records held a bit too tightly

Some Horry County residents use Freedom of Information laws to check out how much crime a neighborhood has before they purchase a house. Others may want information about a baby sitter they are thinking of hiring.

County officials say they get 1,100 requests a year for police incident reports for a variety of reasons. The people who ask for the reports, such as those seeking them at other area police agencies, may be asked to justify their requests even though the law doesn't require them to do so.

The state's Freedom of Information Act makes crime reports known as incident reports available to anyone, though a fee to cover copying costs may be charged.

Local police agencies say they are trying to comply with the law but they have valid reasons for asking why people want them.

Some agencies also charge more than the law allows, but they say their costs are reasonable because of the labor involved in complying with the request.

A staff member at Horry County Police Department erroneously told a reporter that the agency did not have to supply such a report and if it did, it could edit everything out because the case was still under investigation.

Reporters from The Sun News participated in a statewide S.C. Press Association survey on how police agencies respond to requests for what is commonly known as an incident report. The reporters did not identify themselves as journalists unless pressed to do so.

The agencies surveyed were Horry County Police Department, Georgetown County Sheriff's Office and Conway Police Department.

The reporter who visited Horry County police waited more than two hours, then was called inside an office and quizzed about why she wanted the report. She was eventually told she could have it but everything would be edited out.

The police are allowed to edit anything that could endanger an investigation, but not to erase an entire report. Horry County spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier could not say why that incident happened, but she said the county is open with its records and is trying to abide by the law.

"We're very open, and we try to be," she said. The county has a written Freedom of Information Act policy and regularly trains employees and public officials on how to comply with the law.

Because the county gets more than 1,000 requests a year for police incidents, the staff asks people who want less-recent reports to sign a request form, she said. It takes time to find the reports.

"There has to be a written system," Bourcier said. "We put it all on paper so we can track it."

Bourcier said some people ask for reports because they were involved in the incident, but the information is also often requested by parents who want to check on their baby sitter, prospective buyers who want to see if a neighborhood is safe, and people who want to see if a boyfriend or girlfriend has been in trouble.

The reports are available by providing the name of a subject or a street address.

People who are involved in incidents may have a copy of the report immediately, Bourcier said.

The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office asks people to identify themselves when they want a report so the staff can determine if a juvenile or rape victim's name should be taken out, said Sgt. Neil Johnson, the agency's spokesman. If it is a family member, the staff does not need to conceal the information.

Asking the questions is not meant to deter people who are seeking copies of the reports, Johnson said.

In Conway, a reporter was quizzed on whom she was representing. The reporter eventually identified herself after attempting to obtain the report without doing so.

Then she was given the report at no charge.

Conway Police Chief Sam Hendrick was not available for comment about why this happened.

Such questions are not uncommon and occurred across the state during the survey.

Jeff Moore, director of the S.C. Sheriff's Association, said many police agencies want to know who they are handing the reports out to.

"Law enforcement, just by its very nature, is a very suspicious business," he told The Associated Press. "There is a reluctance to just blindly hand over something."

Different rates for reporters

The cost of the reports also varies, and news reporters often get them free or pay less than other citizens.

Attorney General Henry McMaster said that practice doesn't follow the law.

There's nothing in the law allowing that kind of distinction, McMaster told The Associated Press. "It doesn't make any difference who they are," everyone should receive copies at the lowest cost, he said.

Georgetown County, for example, charges reporters 25 cents for a copy of a police report. Others may receive one report free, but after that are charged $2 or $3 depending on the size of the report, Johnson said.

He said the rationale is that most reporters who come to the office are familiar with the process and they serve themselves. They go to the reports, find what they need and copy it.

When others come to the window, "they're paying for the clerk," Johnson said.

Horry County's policy allows for a 15-cent copy charge for a page, and $10 for an hour's research time.

Conway police said they charge $2 for incident reports.

McMaster said the law requires the lowest cost and the fees should be similar to what a commercial copying center would charge.