FAYETTEVILLE -- A judge ruled Tuesday that Tontitown police records related to a 911 call at the Jim Bob Duggar residence are not subject to disclosure under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
Circuit Judge Beth Storey Bryan of Fayetteville determined the records were exempt because police were assisting a state Department of Human Services case worker who was investigating the welfare of a minor May 27. That department and Arkansas State Police child welfare investigations are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
The lawsuit was an appeal of the Tontitown Police Department's refusal to provide the records. The lawsuit was filed Aug. 26 in Washington County Circuit Court on behalf of Victra Fewell by Abtin Mehdizadegan and Cynthia Kolb, two lawyers from Little Rock.
Police did not conduct their own investigation and were on hand only to assist the case worker, according to Joe McCormick, interim police chief in Tontitown. The record in question was a written document describing the call for service that included names, addresses and a short narrative of what the call was about, McCormick said during Tuesday's hearing.
McCormick said his department did not have any of the other records related to the Freedom of Information Act request, including audio of the call that was transferred from Springdale police to the Washington County sheriff's office to Tontitown.
"That's the only thing we have," McCormick told the judge during a short hearing. "DHS said they were there for a juvenile issue. That's what it was about. We just went to assist them if they needed any help."
McCormick said he did not release the information after he determined that records involving the 911 call are exempt from release because the call was part of a Department of Human Services investigation.
The 911 call is also central to an Freedom of Information Act dispute between the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the city of Springdale.
The newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a recording of the 911 call on June 10 after Springdale police denied the request. In Touch magazine obtained a recording of the 911 call through an earlier Freedom of Information Act request.
Attorneys for Springdale denied the newspaper's Freedom of Information Act request in June. The newspaper sued Springdale last week seeking release of the 911 records and two letters from Circuit Judge Stacey Zimmerman of Fayetteville to city officials.
Metro on 09/09/2015