Gee, maybe should start a site for Key West like http://www.oshkoshbygosh.org/ --
the Oshkosh Sux site. Might do their tourist industry a lot of
good. 8-)
Declan McCullagh wrote:
> Police in Key West, Flordia have arrested a newspaper editor for printing
> an article that criticized an internal police investigation, according to
> an Associated Press report. This brutish action by police and prosecutors
> should be widely denounced.
>
> As of this afternoon, the Key West newspaper's site at kwest.com was still
> up (I read what appears to be one of the articles in question at
>
>http://kwest.net/~kwtn/local_news/01-06-15-KWTN-FDLE_Investigating_Police_Internal_Scandal.html).
> But while the server is still alive -- it responds to ping requests --
> connections to port 80 are now refused. Unfortunately, the article is no
> longer in my cache.
>
> It looks like the editor, Dennis Cooper, is being prosecuted for allegedly
> violating a state law. Under Florida law, it's a crime to disclose
> information about a police investigation -- even if you're the person who
> had filed a complaint alleging police wrongdoing, as Cooper seems to have done.
>
> You can find contact information for Key West officials here:
> http://www.keywestcity.com/directory.html
> http://www.keywestcity.com/depts/police/policetelephone.html
>
> I've copied the mayor, the chief of police, and other officials. If they
> would care to reply, I would be happy to extend them the usual courtesy of
> distributing their response unedited.
>
> If anyone puts up a mirror site with the article, please let me know. And I
> urge you to write to the city officials copied above. (BTW I have verified
> that the below article did run on the AP wire.)
>
> -Declan
>
> ---
>
> From: Eric Cordian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Journalist Arresting for Criticizing Cops
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 08:58:05 -0700 (PDT)
>
> In today's news of the truly odd.
>
> -----
>
> KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) -- A newspaper editor and publisher was arrested for
> publishing an article alleging a cover-up in an internal police
> investigation he had filed an official complaint about, police records
> show.
>
> Dennis Cooper, 66, editor of the weekly Key West The Newspaper, was
> arrested Friday and released two hours later on his own recognizance.
>
> The affidavit for his arrest cites a Florida statute that makes it a
> misdemeanor for anyone involved in an internal police investigation to
> disclose information before it has been entered into public record.
>
> Cooper has alleged a police lieutenant lied in court about a 1996 stop of
> a bicyclist, and that the Key West Police Department covered it up.
>
> He filed a complaint last month with the Florida Department of Law
> Enforcement accusing an internal affairs investigator of falsifying
> information about his review of the incident.
>
> [...]
>
> ---
>
>
>http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0112/SEC533.HTM&Title=->2000->Ch0112->Section%20533
> >(4) Any person who is a participant in an internal investigation,
> >including the complainant, the subject of the investigation, the
> >investigator conducting the investigation, and any witnesses in the
> >investigation, who willfully discloses any information obtained pursuant
> >to the agency's investigation, including, but not limited to, the identity
> >of the officer under investigation, the nature of the questions asked,
> >information revealed, or documents furnished in connection with a
> >confidential internal investigation of an agency, before such complaint,
> >document, action, or proceeding becomes a public record as provided in
> >this section commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as
> >provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. However, this subsection does not
> >limit a law enforcement or correctional officer's ability to gain access
> >to information under paragraph (2)(a). Additionally, a sheriff, police
> >chief, or other head of a law enforcement agency, or his or her designee,
> >is not precluded by this section from acknowledging the existence of a
> >complaint and the fact that an investigation is underway.
>
> http://legal.firn.edu/justice/01law.PDF
> >Unauthorized disclosure penalties: Section 112.533(4), F.S., makes it a
> >first degree misdemeanor for any person who is a participant in an
> >internal investigation to willfully disclose any information obtained
> >pursuant to the agency's investigation before such information becomes a
> >public record. However, the subsection "does not limit a law enforcement
> >or correctional officer's ability to gain access to information under
> >paragraph (2)(a)."92
--
Harmon Seaver, MLIS
CyberShamanix
Work 920-203-9633 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Home 920-233-5820 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
