Court Opinion

ID: 9538014
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:28:33.789862+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:18.544069
License: Public Domain

ZIMMERMAN, Justice
(concurring):
I join the Court in affirming the trial court. Although section 77-18-2 of the Code could be read to permit the revealing of the prior convictions, see Thompson v. Department of the Treasury, 557 F.Supp. 158, 167 (D.Utah 1982), a result I think more proper as a policy matter, the reading given the statute by the Chief Justice is more in harmony with the statute’s apparent purpose.
The result reached is troubling insofar as it permits an applicant for certification as a police officer to conceal from P.O.S.T. the fact of prior criminal convictions. However, in 1987 the legislature amended the statute to specifically provide that the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification may divulge information concerning sealed records of arrests and convictions “for certification of an applicant for peace officer status_” Utah Code Ann. § 77-18-2 (1989 Supp.). Thus, the result reached today is not likely to be repeated.