The Otterbein Police Department and members of Otterbein's administration have decided to release incident reports with redactions that are either illegal or not normally made on reports released by municipal departments.
OPD was ordered to release records as a public office by the Ohio Supreme Court in May. The reports were first released in full to Otterbein360 on Aug. 20 of this year. Each incident report included a cover sheet with the university logo that stated the reasons for each redaction and gave legal reasoning.
Some redactions listed in the cover sheet are common practice for retaining information in municipal police departments, such as fields that state "the record(s) are by definition 'not public records,' " "social security numbers" and "Fingerprinted/Photographed Juvenile Offender."
However, the attached document provided by the university showed that OPD has chosen to adopt interpretations of legislation such as the Clery Act and FERPA that prevent the release of information not normally withheld by public offices. This denied information, as stated in the cover sheet, includes, "Confidential law enforcement investigatory records - uncharged suspects," information about victims in cases cleared by the Clery Act and a field for "Victims/Survivors."
