Together, they accounted for three of every four denials to requests for public documents. That neither surprises, nor necessarily concerns, Suzanne Mencer, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Colorado State Patrol, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and other agencies. Local police and sheriff departments must protect life and property, she said, even if that means occasionally withholding information that the law says is public. It's a dilemma. Everyone wants to give the public as much information as possible, because they deserve that, but you also need to protect people, if possible.
Police enjoy more discretion under Colorado's open-records laws than other government agencies.
Mercer said that's for the best. It helps if we have some leeway on what we can release and what we can't. School districts were the most willing to let someone see their records. Three out of four times, the documents were produced within 72 hours. At city halls, requests to see the mayor's travel expenses were granted almost as frequently.