Times-Picayune sues Mitch Landrieu administration over public records

The Times-Picayune filed suit in Civil District Court Friday against Mayor Mitch Landrieu’sadministration for refusing to make public a complete police report about an incident that occurred April 19.

Reporter Brendan McCarthy requested the report on April 26. When the administration provided it on May 17, numerous parts of the report had been blacked out, including the location where the incident occurred and the name, race, gender, birth date, address, phone number and Social Security number of the victim. Police initially called the incident a theft, but the designation was later changed to an “signal 21,” meaning “lost or stolen property.

Incidents of lost or stolen property are not counted in the crime statistics the city reports to the federal government, and McCarthy sought to determine whether the incident had been improperly downgraded.

When McCarthy asked for an explanation of the redactions, the city attorney’s office responded that the location of the incident should not have been redacted, but that it was appropriate to black out the other items. The newspaper asserts in its lawsuit that “there is no legal exemption” that allows the city to redact any of that information.

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