City government critic Russ Racop has filed an appeal in Pulaski County Circuit Court against Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner over the Police Department's refusal to provide photos of police officers.
The Little Rock Police Department, at the recommendation of City Attorney Tom Carpenter, revised its policy in April to no longer release any head shots of police officers after Racop made a request for photos of all officers.
Government agencies are required by the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act to allow the public access to public records, which have included employee photographs.
Carpenter wrote in an email to city officials in April that Racop's broad request "caused a great deal of concern within the [Police] Department."
"We found information in an opinion of the Arkansas Attorney General that if a police department has undercover officers (whose identity does not have to be disclosed), then it is not required to issue any photographs," Carpenter wrote in April. "This issue was discussed in some detail yesterday. It was recognized that LRPD has released photographs of officers in the past from their personnel files for various purposes. However, this will not be the case in the future. The City will rely upon the conclusion of the Attorney General."
Racop argues in his court complaint filed Monday that the undercover law enforcement officer exemption that the law provides only applies to undercover officers and would not exempt photos of other officers from being released.
"LRPD itself posts images of non-undercover officers on its Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts. In fact, LRPD supplied copies of such in response to a FOI request from Plaintiff and did not raise any objections," the complaint says.
Racop, who operates a blog critical of the city, said the Police Department changed its policy regarding officer photos as retaliation against him, since it had always provided photos to news media before.
Most of his critical posts focus on police officers or the department.
He is asking a judge to order the Police Department to comply with his request.
Racop asked to proceed without paying the standard court filing fees, certifying that he isn't employed and barely makes ends meet.
Racop, who is running for the Ward 6 position on the Little Rock Board of Directors, said his last full-time employment was in 2013, and the last time he received a paycheck was about $80 for a one-day job in 2015.
He reported he gets about $96 a month in annuity benefits.
He submitted a screen shot of an Arvest bank account dated May 31 of this year with an available balance of $3.80.
Metro on 06/06/2018