Private Investigation News: Does Snohomish have a public records request overload problem?

"Snohomish County leaders want help from state lawmakers to cut down the time and expense they spend responding to requests for public records, a concern they share with government colleagues in Washington and beyond.

The county receives thousands of requests each year from individuals, neighborhood groups, attorneys and reporters. Often, county staff will compile stacks of records that sit, gathering dust, without anybody coming to pick them up.

County Council responses to public records fill four metal file drawers. There's also a cart that holds the pending requests.

"I would frankly not be surprised to find out that there is in excess of $1 million per year being spent by this county in staff time," County Council Chairman Dave Gossett said. "The real challenge here is to comply with the legitimate need of citizens to know what their government is doing and to ask questions, with the tremendous amount of work that some of these very broad and repetitive requests create."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Gov. Christie signs bill restricting public record fees to cost of copying

"Fees charged by state and local governments to provide public documents to the public will be lowered across New Jersey under a bill signed into law yesterday by Gov. Chris Christie.

The legislation prevents government agencies from charging residents more than the cost of copying to obtain public documents."

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Location Oakland, Ca | San Francisco, Ca | California - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Mug shots are a public record in Massachusetts

"Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office has ruled that mug shots are not protected by Criminal Offender Record Information laws, a position that the Northampton Police Department disputes.

According to a story in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Supervisor of Records Alan N. Cote sided with the Gazette in its effort to obtain a mug shot for a court story it was doing in May. Police had denied the request, saying that the photo falls under the protection provided for those charged with crimes under the law commonly known as CORI.

Northampton Police Capt. Joseph Koncas said Wednesday that his department still believes that mug shots are protected under the law, citing a similar opinion by the deputy general counsel for the Criminal History Systems Board. Nonetheless, Koncas said, Cote’s ruling is “set in stone” and cannot be appealed."  
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Location Oakland, Ca - Private Investigator

Private Investigator News: Oregon Sheriff to pay roughly $43,500 for hiding public records

"A three-year court battle between the Mail Tribune and Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters over concealed handgun license public records has cost the county nearly $44,000.

Winters was required to pay the newspaper's legal expenses after the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled in June that Winters was wrong to deny the Mail Tribune's request for the names of 2006 and 2007 concealed handgun licensees. The newspaper sent a bill of about $20,674, while the county's own legal expenses reached about $22,860, according to the county counsel's office."
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Location Oakland, Ca - Private Investigator

Now at PI buzz - Private Investigator and Public Records News

Now at PI buzz:

# This week in public records: Alabama - California - Maine - Virginia


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# U.S. Postal Service employees are added to employment verification service


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# This week in public records: Federal - Washington - Iowa - Wisconsin - California - Tennessee - Pennsylvania


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# Illinois Meth Manufacturer Database Online


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# Database of the Day: Federal and state employee names and salaries


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# Government seeks to further restrict the use and display of the Social Security number


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# Database of the Day: Missouri Department of Corrections


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# This week in public records: California - Connecticut - North Carolina - Nebraska - New York - Minnesota


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# South Dakota Supreme Court upholds legality of trash seizure


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# Find Montana permits and professional continuing education status

Public Records - Private Investigator - Internet Search

All blog postings about Public Records - Private Investigator - Internet Search are now at PI buzz.

* Coral Gables Police Department crash reports and event reports online

* This week in public records: Pennsylvania, Texas, Nevada

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* A slew of data brokers settle with AT&T

* Database of the day: Social Workers

* This week in Internet Search: RootsWeb, SearchSystems, LawQuest, Voompeople

* Corporate governance and private investigations

* Personal information: business background and more legislation

* Law enforcement agent’s arrest leads to removal of police reports from all court files

* Database of the Day: Texas Athlete Agent

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