Opinion ID: 2463751
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: RCW 42.56.240(1)the investigative records exemption

Text: ¶ 31 Although conceding that both exemptions turn on the issue of Officer Cain's right to privacy, BIPG and Officer Cain argue that the investigative records exemption under RCW 42.56.240(1), exempts the entire PCIR and MIIIR from production. RCW 42.56.240 provides: The following investigative, law enforcement, and crime victim information is exempt from public inspection and copying under this chapter: (1) Specific intelligence information and specific investigative records compiled by investigative, law enforcement, and penology agencies, and state agencies vested with the responsibility to discipline members of any profession, the nondisclosure of which is essential to effective law enforcement or for the protection of any person's right to privacy. ¶ 32 The PCIR and MIIIR are clearly investigative records compiled by law enforcement. See Cowles Publ'g Co. v. State Patrol, 109 Wash.2d 712, 729, 748 P.2d 597 (1988) (holding that law enforcement internal investigation records meet the first criterion of investigative records exemption); Cowles Publ'g Co. v. Spokane Police Dep't, 139 Wash.2d 472, 477-78, 987 P.2d 620 (1999) (investigative records exemption applies to criminal investigative records so long as the other criteria of the exemption are met). The PCIR was part of a criminal investigation of Officer Cain, and the MIIIR was compiled by Mercer Island Police after the Bainbridge Island police chief vested Mercer Island with the responsibility of deciding whether Officer Cain should be disciplined. ¶ 33 The BIPG and Officer Cain do not argue that the PCIR and the MIIIR are essential to effective law enforcement, but only that withholding the reports is essential for the protection of Officer Cain's right to privacy. The analysis here is identical to the right to privacy analysis in the personal information exemption. See Spokane Police Guild, 112 Wash.2d at 37-38, 769 P.2d 283. Therefore, only Officer Cain's identity is exempt under the PRA and should be redacted. Subject to those redactions, the remainder of the PCIR and the MIIIR, including the nature of the agencies' response to the allegation, are nonexempt.