From the PNA Legal Hotline

By Teri Henning, General Counsel
and Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: I requested the name, job title, salary and years of service of local borough police officers. My request was denied on the basis that officers “could, at some point in the future, go undercover.” Is that right?

A: No, the names, job titles, salaries and years of service of police officers are public unless the officers are actually undercover.

Section 708(b)(6) expressly makes public the name, position, salary, actual compensation and length of service of public employees. This section of the RTKL allows agencies to redact the names or other identifying information relating to an individual performing undercover or covert law enforcement activity.

By its plain terms, this section of the law only allows agencies to redact indentifying information of law enforcement officers who are currently performing undercover law enforcement activities. If agencies are permitted to deny access on the basis cited in this case, names of law enforcement officers would never be public because presumably, they might go undercover at some point in the future. This conflicts with the plain meaning of the statute as well as the Legislature’s intent to provide access to basic information about public employees. The fact that a police officer might at some point in the future go undercover does not meet the requirements of section 708(b)(6) and the records should be released.