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Carlton: On mug shots, Hillsborough sheriff tries to strike balance on public records that should be public

 
Tampa Bay Times
Published Nov. 21, 2018

On this we probably agree: Government records open to the public are generally a good thing.

Being able see for yourself online what public officials, those who would influence them and also your fellow citizens are up to — who's donating to which campaigns, who's getting arrested, what politicians will take up at their next meeting — all good.

On the subject of online arrest records, maybe we can agree on this, too: You, person of the world, are smart enough to know the difference between an arrest and a conviction and that charges sometimes get reduced or dropped.

So a recent change at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office that means you can no longer easily look up arrest records dating back decades online is worth talking about.

As the Times' Tony Marrero reported, Sheriff Chad Chronister initially decided the public would no longer be able to look up arrest records and mug shots with a few keystrokes unless the person was at that very moment sitting in jail. No more would you be able to easily find the record of, say, a job applicant, potential babysitter or your child's little league coach unless that person was incarcerated. It also potentially limited, or at least potentially slowed down, information news reporters could get to you.

Chronister says he was trying to fix a problem of fairness — more on that in a minute — but says he over-corrected with that first broad decision. At the behest of defense lawyers and bail bonds businesses that need arrest records to do their jobs, he quickly amended the rules so you could see those records for 90 days after someone left jail.

Now, I could bolster my argument against this tightening of access if only I could tell you the sheriff appears intent on shielding how his office does business from your view and ours, but no. In truth, Chronister is looking for a fair solution to one of the more insidious aspects of the web, where mug shots never die. (And before you say pot, meet kettle, the Times runs local mugs on our website but takes them down after 60 days and doesn't charge to remove them.)

The sheriff says he aims to balance public access against mugs posted online and businesses that charge to have them "removed," though are they ever really removed? No, people have told Chronister. He also says mugs that live into infinity on the internet can hurt someone's chance for employment. And he points out information is still available through public records requests, though that's an extra hurdle I'm betting a lot of regular folk won't take.

"They still have access," the sheriff says. "It's just not, 'Hey, let me click a switch.'"

For the record, he is not required to make this information immediately available online, though many local law enforcement agencies do. I am of the belief that the business of government should be open to the public eye with few exceptions, and that lack of access can help corruption thrive, the spirit of Florida's public records law.

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"I certainly didn't want to create a blockade or an obstruction," the sheriff says. "My goal was to protect some individuals."

Over in Pinellas County, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri has struck a compromise for dealing with companies that collect online mug shots and charge to have them removed: Mugs are only available online to authorized users including bail bonds businesses and reporters.

There is, if not a happy ending to this public policy tale, at least the potential for a reasonable one.

Chronister says he is looking at making lawyers, bonds businesses and news reporters registered users who can sign on and get all those previously available records.

And the general public? Ultimately those same arrest records could be available online, requiring only requests for mugshots to go through the extra step. "It's striking that fine balance," he said, a fine balance being exactly the sort of thing the public should be able to see.

Contact Sue Carlton at scarlton@tampabay.com .