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CONTACT: info@aclu-co.org
Invoking Colorado's open records laws, the ACLU of Colorado filed suit today
in Denver District Court, asking that Denver be ordered to disclose records
related to budgeting for and purchase of police equipment dating from
January 2007, when Denver was selected as the host city for the 2008 Democratic
National Convention.
The federal government has allocated $50 million to
reimburse Denver for security-related expenses connected to the
convention. Denver has revealed that $18 million is budgeted for equipment
purchases, but most of the details remain secret.
In refusing the ACLU's
request for documents earlier this year, the lawsuit says, a representative of
Denver's Department of Safety asserted that disclosure "could potentially
disclose tactical security information of the Denver Police Department which
would be contrary to the public interest."
"We believe the public
interest is served by disclosing how the government is spending the public's
money," said John Culver, who is handling the case as an ACLU Cooperating
Attorney.
In its request to inspect public records, the ACLU asked for
documents related to the purchase of such items as "less lethal" weapons,
vehicles, personal body armor, restraint devices, and barricades, fencing or
netting."
"I do not believe that the public records at
issue here contain the kind of ‘tactical security information' that Denver is
reluctant to disclose," said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director. "Even
if the requested documents did contain such information, the Colorado
legislature addressed this issue in a 2005 amendment to the open records
laws. The statute states that ‘specialized details of security
arrangements' can be deleted, but the remainder of the documents—the portions
that reveal how the government is spending our money—must be
disclosed."
Silverstein added that "Denver's unjustified penchant for
secrecy" has led to speculation and rumors about the nature of the equipment
Denver is acquiring. He said that more than one Denver
reporter as well as a New York City radio station have all contacted the ACLU to
ask about a report that Denver had acquired a "sonic ray gun" for crowd control
purposes similar to one that the New York Police Department police acquired in
preparation for the 2004 Republican Convention.
"If Denver is
buying such a device, or any other new-fangled so-called ‘less lethal' weapons,"
Silverstein continued, "the public is certainly entitled to know. And the
public is entitled to ask whether Denver has adequately evaluated the
manufacturers' self-serving claims of safety, has established appropriate
policies to regulate how and when officers may use such weapons, and has
adequately trained its officers."
The Complaint is available on
the ACLU of Colorado web site at:
http://www.aclu-co.org/docket/200810/complaint.dnc.police.spending.5-28-08.pdf