Standardized forms, Internet open court, crime info to public

While the federal government is locked in a debate over public information vs. public safety and the right to privacy, Missouri is using the Internet to remove barriers and creating standardized crime forms to lessen confusion.

Much of Missouri's circuit court information has been made available during the last two years with the state's online record system, Case.net. Racial profiling reports on traffic stops are available on the attorney general's Web site.

And more recently, the Missouri Press Association, Police Chiefs Association, Sheriffs Association and the Missouri Attorney General's Office designed a model incident form for law enforcement agencies.

All of it is good for Missourians, said Jean Maneke, Missouri Press Association attorney and an expert on open records laws, because it makes residents more interested in government.

"It helps to encourage accuracy in those records, because everyone knows the public will access it and see it if it is wrong," she said.

Crime Web site

Missourians will soon be able to access online data about crimes occurring in their communities with the launch of the state's Uniform Crime Report Web site administered by Missouri State Highway Patrol. The data is compiled similarly to the FBI's annual U.S. crime report.

Although Missouri's new UCR site was originally planned to go live Saturday after an announcement by Gov. Bob Holden, the launch was postponed, and a new date has not been set. Last month, administrators were attempting to fix problems the site had with Macintosh computers, which are used by the majority of print media journalists.

To be eligible for federal grant money designated to combat crime, every city, county and university campus in the state with a full-time law enforcement agency is required to submit lengthy, monthly incident reports to the patrol.

The process can be completed on paper or online on the patrol's Web site. It generally takes about two hours to enter the information for each month.

Agencies that don't submit reports can't get grant cash for salaries, buying safety equipment or upgrading technology.

Lt. Jerry Bledsoe of the Scott County Sheriff's Department said seeing the data compiled together helps his department understand Scott County's crime issues better and where their resources and attention should be focused.

Law enforcement agencies have had access to the Web site for nearly a year while it was under construction.

Cape Girardeau Police Department systems administrator Randon Grissom has filled out uniform crime reports for the last seven years. After comparing the last two years of statistics, he has seen the city's 2002 crime numbers go down in two areas, robberies and burglaries.

"It's basically for our own benefit, the city council's benefit and the public's benefit that we do it accurately," he said. "We want to be explicit all the way through. And our agency is big on getting grant money."

Model report

The model incident report form is intended to take the guesswork for police out of what information should be included to comply with the open records law. It is available for download from the attorney general's Web site, and a copy was mailed to each newspaper member of MPA and all law enforcement agencies in the state in December.

The form is not mandated and is not intended to replace any valid incident report already being used by peace officers. But one of the key designers, assistant attorney Ted Bruce, said the form can help many departments.

"Some agencies didn't have anything available, and we thought, 'Let's put together a model form.' So that if they're wondering how and what an incident report should look like, this is an example," Bruce said.

His office received a few inquiries about the forms, but the overall feedback from officers has been positive.

"Everyone benefits when the public knows how you do your job," he said. "A more informed public is more satisfied."

Currently in his first term as sheriff of Bollinger County, Terry Wiseman likes the usefulness of the model form. Although his department does not have as many incident reports as more populous counties, he does get occasional requests for copies from the public and believes the form is an efficient way to provide accurate information.

"We're a small county, and I'd say it could be something very helpful to us," he said. "Anything to make our job simpler and easier is good because everything else is complicated enough."

Bledsoe said new software implemented at Scott County's new jail will make filing incident reports easier for his officers. Insurance companies make most of the requests his office receives for incident reports for damaged vehicles, damaged homes and thefts. He said there are no plans to change to the model form.

Cape Girardeau police receive 15 to 20 such requests a day, said Sgt. Rick Schmidt. The city uses a more detailed incident report form than the model form, and because it complies with the law there are no plans to switch.

'A fine line'

It is as important for officers to understand the Sunshine Law as any other part of the job, Schmidt said.

"It's a very fine line, because there's not a whole lot of information that can be restricted legally," he said.

But Maneke said some law enforcement agencies aren't as educated about open records.

"For a number of years in my role as attorney for the Missouri Press Association, I've talked with papers around the state about problems they've had with the disparity of what different law enforcement agencies will release," Maneke said. "It makes it really difficult to get the information you need."

Maneke said the attorney general and the Missouri Press Association have talked for some time about the issue of incident reports.

"All of us have attempted to say it is not a mandated form, but it meets the requirements of law and is there for the taking," she said. "It makes it very easy for a smaller law enforcement agency to use it and not have to design their own forms to meet the requirements of the law."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160

Direct access to information

Case.net is Missouri's automated online court record system. It allows anyone with an Internet connection to access information directly from the courts' automated filing systems. It also permits lawyers to view their own court calendars and a judge's court calendar as well.

Case.net provides up-to-the-minute public case information from each of the state's three appellate courts and 34 of its 45 judicial circuits, as well as from the statewide Fine Collection Center. In 2002, the Web site earned a Best of Breed award from the Center for Digital Government, an internationally recognized think-tank of experts in information technology.

Case.net is popular with lawyers, peace officers and journalists, who frequently need current case information to perform their jobs.

The site is fairly simple to use. Users first choose the circuit court from which information is needed. For example, Cape Girardeau County is in the 32nd district, along with Perry and Bollinger counties.

Then, a search method is chosen: case number, case filing date, a litigant's name, or scheduled hearing/trial dates. From there, more information can be submitted to narrow the search, such as the year filed, county location and whether the case is criminal, civil, traffic or probate.

Once a specific case is selected, a user can view:

Docket information

Litigant and attorney contact information

Specific criminal charges, if any

Hearing dates

Although the original intent was to bring the remaining court districts into the system during the next few years, state budget cuts have delayed that plan.

On the Net

http://casenet.osca.state.mo.us/casenet