A Little Rock firm has filed a lawsuit against the Texarkana Police Department and Chief Robert Harrison over a policy regarding crash reports, the Texarkana Gazette reported.
The Brad Hendricks Law Firm reportedly filed the suit in November. It says the agency's policy that prohibits individuals from photographing or taking notes of the reports without also purchasing a $10 copy is a violation of state law, according to the newspaper.
Under Arkansas law, motor vehicle accident reports are a public records that can be reviewed for a fee of $10 per basic report and a $1.50-per-page charge for copies of supplemental reports. The fees are to reimburse law enforcement agencies who have to make copies of the documents.
Burt Newell, a Hot Springs lawyer who is representing the Police Department and Harrison, told the Texarkana Gazette that the law clearly states that the fee "shall be charged" and that the department is within the law to stop the firm from making its own free copies.
According to the newspaper, the suit claims the department "reads limitations into" the law "that no other department, office, or agency of government has adopted, without providing any exception in the law in support of the policy."