It's very kind of funny,'' a Worth County Sheriff's deputy, who refused to identify himself, said before refusing to release the report without the sheriff there.
State law mandates that law enforcement agencies release incident reports to anyone who asks.
In a statewide survey, only 50 percent of sheriff's offices and 63 percent of police departments complied with the Open Records Act. We start with the assumption that all records are open records. The only legitimate reason for not providing public documents is if the statute provides an exception for it,'' Baker said. It is an open record under state law and should be released. More than just the media can be affected when officers refuse to release incident reports.