Mr. Vincent F. O'Rourke Jr. This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Court hears arguments on police internal records

   www.telegram.com/news/page_one - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/8/2002   Last Visited: 1/9/2002

   Vincent F. O'Rourke Jr., lawyer for the T&G, told the judges that the Superior Court did not abuse its discretion in ordering the confidential review of the records. He argued that the state's public records law never was intended to seal reports of police misconduct from the public. "The question of police discipline is too important to think the Legislature intended for all police investigation records to forever be banned from scrutiny by the public," Mr. O'Rourke argued. "The city is essentially saying you will never see them and no one will ever see them," the lawyer said. Mr. O'Rourke said that in one case of alleged police brutality, police logs made no note of the incident or that the alleged victim was taken to the hospital. He pointed out that an internal affairs investigation in the case did not begin until a complaint was filed, which was many days after the incident. However, the city has withheld police reports and witness statements written the day the incident occurred. The broad exemption sought by the city, Mr. O'Rourke said, "would enable the city to deep six everything" in a police misconduct case.