Iowa police case numbers are public information, board staff says

Iowa's open records law does not allow law enforcement agencies to keep case numbers secret, according to a staff opinion by the Iowa Public Information Board.

The board will vote at its meeting Thursday in Des Moines whether to accept the advisory opinion written by Interim Director Margaret Johnson.

Des Moines Register reporter Kathy Bolten requested case numbers from the Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS), which responded these internally-assigned numbers were not part of the 'immediate facts and circumstances” of the case in question and would not be provided, according to the opinion.

In August, Bolten asked the board to clarify whether this denial was in line with Iowa Code Chapter 22, which, along with Chapter 21, the nine-person board is charged with enforcing.

'A law enforcement agency can also indicate that the release of such information ‘would plainly and seriously jeopardize an investigation or pose a clear and present danger to the safety of an individual',” Johnson noted in the opinion dated March 16.

However, 'the board is of the opinion that Iowa Code section 22.7(5) does not support the uniform denial of the release of an interally-assigned case number.”

In other business:

' Johnson recommended the board accept a complaint from Gavin Aronsen, an Ames journalist who was denied floor plans for the Knoll, the on-campus house of Iowa State University President Steven Leath. If the board accepts the complaint, board staff will work toward an informal resolution with ISU, Johnson noted.

' Complaints against DPS and Burlington Police Department over the agencies' decision to not release body camera video and other investigative materials from a Jan. 6, 2015, fatal police shooting in Burlington continue to move forward for an April 19 contested case hearing, Johnson said. An administrative law judge in January denied the law enforcement agencies' request for dismissal.

' The board will receive an update on the August complaint of Doug Krejci, a Cedar Rapids documentary filmmaker, who is trying to get footage of the 2008 floods from the University of Iowa.

l Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com