Published: September 24, 2008 12:39 am      

Court hears police FOIA case

CHARLESTON — The city of Charleston finds itself caught between the Fraternal Order of Police and the state’s largest newspaper over officer time sheets, the city’s lawyer told the Supreme Court Tuesday.

The justices expect to rule by the end of the year on The Charleston Gazette’s request for the records.

The newspaper’s 2007 Freedom of Information Act request for records of 28 officers came amid the convictions of four officers on charges alleging they worked second paid jobs while on duty.

The city initially cited privacy concerns and an ongoing criminal investigation in withholding the records. But the city’s attorney, Ancil Ramey, told the justices Tuesday that the probe ended two weeks ago.

Ramey said the FOP, representing officers, threatened to sue if the records became public. He also said that after denying the request for the records, the city sought guidance from a Kanawha Circuit judge on the relevant law. The abrupt dismissal of that petition prompted the Supreme Court appeal.

Ramey suggested that the justices send the case back to Kanawha County, and allow all interested parties to weigh in before a judge rules. But a lawyer for the Gazette said the law is sufficiently clear to allow the high court to decide the case itself.

“There’s no information that you need,” Sean McGinley told the justices. “These are simple payroll, time sheet records. There’s nothing confidential about them. They’re not personnel records ... There’s no privacy interest.”

McGinley also argued that the city wrongly cited a pair of circuit court orders sealing records of six of the officers, who were then facing criminal indictment, in denying the FOIA request. The city similarly erred by deeming the time sheets part of the “double-dipping” probe, he said.

“This was not something prepared by the police in the course of a criminal investigation,” McGinley said. “These are accounting records, payroll records showing the hours worked by public employees.”

“And paid by public money,” added Chief Justice Elliott “Spike” Maynard.

While conceding that the newspaper may prevail, Ramey later cited a federal ruling out of southern West Virginia that he said did not conclude such timekeeping records were public.

Retired Justice Thomas McHugh heard the case for Justice Joseph Albright, who continues to recover from esophagus surgery.