Court Opinion

ID: 9629399
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:42:06.731913+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:18.831961
License: Public Domain

OGG, Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. I do not believe the legislature intended to include police interoffice and intra-agency communications as public records. See Mathews v. Pyle, supra. I do believe such communica*341tions qualify as “other matters” under A.R.S. § 39-121, and they may be inspected by the public unless they are (1) confidential, or (2) of such a nature that it would be against the best interest of the state to permit disclosure of their content.
In order for the documents requested in this case to be considered confidential, the police department’s need for secrecy must outweigh the Church’s interest in disclosure. Such a balancing test was established in the case of Mathews v. Pyle, where the Arizona Supreme Court stated a governmental agency has the authority to deny the inspection of such material if it thinks such disclosure would be detrimental to the best interest of the state. If such decision is challenged, the issue must be determined by the courts. The trial judge must hold an “in camera” inspection of the disputed documents and in the exercise of sound discretion determine if the inspection would be detrimental to the best interests of the state.
In this case, the trial judge followed the Mathews v. Pyle guidelines and held an “in camera” inspection of the interoffice and intra-agency police communications relative to the criminal investigation made involving the Church. At the conclusion of this inspection, the court entered an order finding they were not public records and therefore denying inspection of these communications by the Church.
Viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to upholding the judgment of the trier of fact, I find no abuse of discretion by the trial court. The Church wanted these records so they could straighten out the thinking of those who sent or received these communications during the investigation. The documents were not and are not needed for any litigation between the parties. Such inspection has been held to be proper where litigation is involved, but even there the trial court has the authority to withhold confidential materials, such as the names and addresses of witnesses or complainants. City of Tucson v. Superior Court, 25 Ariz. App. 512, 544 P.2d 1113 (1976); City of Phoenix v. Peterson, 11 Ariz.App. 136, 462 P.2d 829 (1969). Mere fishing expeditions are not permitted. State ex rel. DeConcini v. Superior Court, 20 Ariz.App. 33, 509 P.2d 1070 (1973). From my personal inspection of the contested documents, it appears that while some are innocuous, others are investigation memoranda of officers and opinions of potential witnesses as well as lists of names, addresses and phone numbers. In my opinion, there is a strong state interest in protecting the free flow of information, both interoffice and intra-agency, among police agencies. If a private citizen knows his name, address and testimony may be divulged, no matter how remote in time, to the party under investigation by the police, this will have a chilling effect upon the participation by the public in police investigations.
I find the interest of the Church in the disputed documents to be minimal. Much of the information requested has been disclosed. Using the balancing test of Mathews v. Pyle, I cannot say the trial judge abused his discretion in refusing to order the disclosure of these police interoffice and intra-agency communications.
I would affirm the judgment.