New Franklin Police Department Records ordinance (§ 120.120)

A. The Police Department of the City shall maintain records of all incidents reported to the Police Department and investigations and arrests made by the Police Department. All incident reports and arrest reports shall be open records. Notwithstanding any other provision of law other than the provisions of Subsection (C) of this Section or Section 320.083, RSMo., investigative reports of the Police Department are closed records until the investigation becomes inactive. If any person is arrested and not charged with an offense against the law within thirty (30) days of the person's arrest, the arrest report shall thereafter be a closed record except that the disposition portion of the record may be accessed and except as provided in Section 120.140.

B. Except as provided in Subsections (C) and (D) of this Section, if any portion of a record or document of a Police Department Officer or the Police Department, other than an arrest report which would otherwise be open, contains information that is reasonably likely to pose a clear and present danger to the safety of any victim, witness, undercover officer or other person; or jeopardize a criminal investigation, including records which would disclose the identity of a source wishing to remain confidential or a suspect not in custody; or which would disclose techniques, procedures or guidelines for Police Department investigations or prosecutions, that portion of the record shall be closed and shall be redacted from any record made available pursuant to this Chapter.

C. Any person, a family member of such person within the first degree of consanguinity of such person if deceased or incompetent, attorney for a person, or insurer of a person involved in any incident or whose property is involved in an incident may obtain any records closed pursuant to this Section or Section 120.140 for purposes of investigation of any civil claim or defense as provided by this Subsection. Any individual, his/her attorney or insurer involved in an incident or whose property is involved in an incident, upon written request, may obtain a complete unaltered and unedited incident report concerning the incident and may obtain access to other records closed by the Police Department pursuant to this Section. Within thirty (30) days of such request, the Police Department shall provide the requested material or file a motion pursuant to this Subsection with the Circuit Court having jurisdiction over the Police Department stating that the safety of the victim, witness or other individual cannot be reasonably ensured, or that a criminal investigation is likely to be jeopardized. Pursuant to Section 610.100(4), RSMo., if, based on such motion, the court finds for the Police Department, the court shall either order the record closed or order such portion of the record that should be closed to be redacted from any record made available pursuant to this Subsection.

D. Any person may apply pursuant to this Subsection to the Circuit Court having jurisdiction for an order requiring a Law Enforcement Agency to open incident reports and arrest reports being unlawfully closed pursuant to the Section. If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the Law Enforcement Officer or Agency has knowingly violated this Section, the officer or agency shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount up to one thousand dollars ($1,000.00). If the court finds that there is a knowing violation of this Section, the court may order payment by such officer or agency of all costs and attorneys' fees, as provided by Section 610.027, RSMo. If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the Law Enforcement Officer or Agency has purposely violated this Section, the officer or agency shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount up to five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) and the court shall order payment by such officer or agency of all costs and attorney fees, as provided in Section 610.027, RSMo. The court shall determine the amount of the penalty by taking into account the size of the jurisdiction, the seriousness of the offense, and whether the Law Enforcement Officer or Agency has violated this Section previously.

E. The victim of an offense as provided in Chapter 566, RSMo., may request that his/her identity be kept confidential until a charge relating to such incident is filed.