OUR VIEW: Cops bilk Bruce with open-records fees (vote in poll)

Even Douglas Bruce deserves sunshine — in the form of open and transparent government.

Activist Bruce was hauled into court on a trespassing charge after circulating a petition last year. Police said he trespassed on a portion of Costco property that’s open to the public. Bruce said city officials indulged a political prosecution. A jury acquitted him.

Seven months later, Bruce wants to review police records, so he filed an open-records request. After all, Colorado Springs Police Chief Richard Myers told him in writing that an employee of the police department broke rules in the case. Myers explained that administrative action was taken against the employee.

Any person has a right to see most records pertaining to a criminal case. This empowers citizens to police the police.

For some, the state’s open records laws work only in theory. That’s because Colorado allows government to charge excessive fees for copies, search, retrieval and redaction of records.

“Citizens and journalists in Colorado are often chilled from monitoring their government because of outrageous fees,” said Denver media lawyer Steve Zansberg.

David Cuillier, freedom of information chairman for the Society of Professional Journalists, said Colorado’s records fees “are like a poll tax that prices people out of government.” Cuillier, who teaches journalism at the University of Arizona, visited 35 states this summer to discuss open records laws. He said the fees in Colorado are the worst he has seen.

Cuillier said it’s indisputable that a photo copy — including toner, paper, electricity, maintenance and equipment depreciation — costs an average of 1.5 cents. Governments that charge 3 cents enjoy a 100 percent markup. Colorado allows an incredible 25-cent per page price-gouging on top of fees to pay for staff time. Zansberg said people who ask to see their records are sometimes charged up to $80 an hour so a government employee can watch them.

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After Bruce requested his records, Police Commander Brian Grady said he could pick them up for $270. He claimed police spent nine hours redacting the records to hide names of indirect witnesses. Nine hours? Hard to imagine. Grady said Bruce was free to inspect the records in person, at a charge of $30 an hour after the first 30 minutes.

In an extreme example of a records shakedown, The Rocky Mountain News requested Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone’s e-mails pertaining to his department’s response to the Columbine High School massacre. County officials demanded $1.07 million, as explained in a 2004 article published by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The county stood firm; the News gave up.

Though Colorado’s open-government sunshine laws have improved in recent years, high fees enable government officials to cover their tracks. They empower the establishment to bilk and discourage annoying gadflies and activists. Ultimately, we all pay the price with less open government.

— Wayne Laugesen , editorial page editor, for the editorial board. Friend him on Facebook