Now on Thursday before I went into work, I decided to try to get the police report on my friends arrest. Well, to make a long story short-I did not get it-EVEN THOUGH I AM ENTITLED TO SEE THE REPORT.

Remember, under the Freedom of Information law an arrest is public information-albeit CERTAIN details are not:

Sec. 1-210. (Formerly Sec. 1-19). Access to public records. Exempt records.

(a) Except as otherwise provided by any federal law or state statute, all records maintained or kept on file by any public agency, whether or not such records are required by any law or by any rule or regulation, shall be public records and every person shall have the right to inspect such records promptly during regular office or business hours or to receive a copy of such records in accordance with the provisions of section 1-212. Any agency rule or regulation, or part thereof, that conflicts with the provisions of this subsection or diminishes or curtails in any way the rights granted by this subsection shall be void. Each such agency shall keep and maintain all public records in its custody at its regular office or place of business in an accessible place and, if there is no such office or place of business, the public records pertaining to such agency shall be kept in the office of the clerk of the political subdivision in which such public agency is located or of the Secretary of the State, as the case may be. Any certified record hereunder attested as a true copy by the clerk, chief or deputy of such agency or by such other person designated or empowered by law to so act, shall be competent evidence in any court of this state of the facts contained therein. Each such agency shall make, keep and maintain a record of the proceedings of its meetings.

(b) Nothing in the Freedom of Information Act shall be construed to require disclosure of:

(1) Preliminary drafts or notes provided the public agency has determined that the public interest in withholding such documents clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure;

(2) Personnel or medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute an invasion of personal privacy;

(3) Records of law enforcement agencies not otherwise available to the public which records were compiled in connection with the detection or investigation of crime, if the disclosure of said records would not be in the public interest because it would result in the disclosure of (A) the identity of informants not otherwise known or the identity of witnesses not otherwise known whose safety would be endangered or who would be subject to threat or intimidation if their identity was made known, (B) signed statements of witnesses, (C) information to be used in a prospective law enforcement action if prejudicial to such action, (D) investigatory techniques not otherwise known to the general public, (E) arrest records of a juvenile, which shall also include any investigatory files, concerning the arrest of such juvenile, compiled for law enforcement purposes, (F) the name and address of the victim of a sexual assault under section 53a-70, 53a-70a, 53a-71, 53a-72a, 53a-72b or 53a-73a, or injury or risk of injury, or impairing of morals under section 53-21, or of an attempt thereof or (G) uncorroborated allegations subject to destruction pursuant to section 1-216;

(4) Records pertaining to strategy and negotiations with respect to pending claims or pending litigation to which the public agency is a party until such litigation or claim has been finally adjudicated or otherwise settled;

(5) Trade secrets, which for purposes of the Freedom of Information Act, are defined as unpatented, secret, commercially valuable plans, appliances, formulas, or processes, which are used for the making, preparing, compounding, treating or processing of articles or materials which are trade commodities obtained from a person and which are recognized by law as confidential, and commercial or financial information given in confidence, not required by statute;

(6) Test questions, scoring keys and other examination data used to administer a licensing examination, examination for employment or academic examinations;

(7) The contents of real estate appraisals, engineering or feasibility estimates and evaluations made for or by an agency relative to the acquisition of property or to prospective public supply and construction contracts, until such time as all of the property has been acquired or all proceedings or transactions have been terminated or abandoned, provided the law of eminent domain shall not be affected by this provision;

(8) Statements of personal worth or personal financial data required by a licensing agency and filed by an applicant with such licensing agency to establish his personal qualification for the license, certificate or permit applied for;

(9) Records, reports and statements of strategy or negotiations with respect to collective bargaining;

(10) Records, tax returns, reports and statements exempted by federal law or state statutes or communications privileged by the attorney-client relationship;

(11) Names or addresses of students enrolled in any public school or college without the consent of each student whose name or address is to be disclosed who is eighteen years of age or older and a parent or guardian of each such student who is younger than eighteen years of age, provided this subdivision shall not be construed as prohibiting the disclosure of the names or addresses of students enrolled in any public school in a regional school district to the board of selectmen or town board of finance, as the case may be, of the town wherein the student resides for the purpose of verifying tuition payments made to such school;

If you notice, the law says the information the police cannot release information on informants or witnesses that might hinder an investigation-or release medical information or victims names or a list of items seized that aid in an INVESTIGATION.

THE ACTUAL POLICE REPORT OF THE INCIDENT IS PUBLIC INFORMATION!!

I have been through this before and the Cheshire police department knows the rules-I just think they are resisting because they are not used to having anyone press them for the information-it is a cat and mouse game-I played it all the time when I was a reporter with various Police Departments.

“Oh we can’t release the police report because it is under investigation!!! If that were TRUE and it is not, it is just an excuse to withold information the public is entitled to know-NOTHING WOULD EVER BE RELEASED BECAUSE LET’S FACE IT-JUST ABOUT EVERY CASE IS OR HAS BEEN UNDER INVESTIGATION.

That is why I keep running Pres. Kennedy’s Secret Society speech-where he addresses this very issue:

We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it’s in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.

I also am going to cite the Freedom of Information section 1-215-which cites a case from 2008 where a citizen attempted to get a police report-NOT A PRESS RELEASE OF WHAT THE COPS WANT YOU TO KNOW-the actual police written report of the incident.

Click here to see WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THIS CITIZEN WAS DENIED ACCESS TO THE POLICE REPORT:

I am not going to contact FOI-we are making progress in Cheshire-little by little-but the next time I go to the CPD and ask for the Summary Logs and pick out items of interest, I KNOW I will be getting the POLICE REPORTS that correspond to the summary log. I AM SURE I WILL NOT HAVE ANY TROUBLE.

Many police departments try to use “its under investigation” as an excuse not to release the police report so that is nothing new.

I think I use a fair amount of discretion where the police incidents are concerned and will continue to do so-that is the next step that will seal it for me-I go down to the station, look at the summary log-pick out what interests me and SEE THE POLICE REPORT-NOT THE PRESS RELEASE.

Then we have it-that is my goal-to get this town used to the public being able to see all the information we are entitled to see-I am NOT INTERESTED in information I am not entitled to see and I respect that.

But please-don’t tell me we “don’t hide anything here” and then deny me the POLICE REPORT.

This is very intimidating having to deal with Police Departments for information-but Cheshire will learn to accept this-they are slowly doing this-they are releasing more information to the press. So I will keep on trying, as long as I am in this town. It is something I believe in very strongly-the peoples right to know!! It is a tough lesson for Cheshire-but they will learn and things will be fine.

As I have stated time and time again-you would not like it if your spouse or significant other spoonfed you information or kept certain things from you-would you? NO!!

I can tell you-that relationship would be in the bin ASAP!!

While I was at the Police Station, an elderly gentleman came in and asked to speak to the Traffic Division.

Well, while HE was waiting for someone to come speak with him, I asked him where he lived in town and if he was concerned with speeding. I told him if he was bothered by speeders, I would make it a point to barrel-ass down his street to annoy him even more!!

He started laughing and told me that wasn’t the case-he said he had been trying for several months to get a no through truck sign put back up on his street-Musso View Avenue.

The man, whose name I did not get-told me there is no sign on the Meriden Road entrance to Musso View, resulting in trucks coming down the street, but where he resides, near the intersection of Byam and Musso View-there is a sign.

The man seemed VERY UPSET-that no one has been paying attention to his complaint. So, GUESS WHAT?

Yep-I took some time and went out to Musso View Rd and lo and behold-the no through truck sign WAS still in place on the Byam Road, Musso View Rd entrance-but at the Meriden Road-Musso View Rd entrance-IT WAS MISSING!! And THAT IS WHERE THE SIGN SHOULD BE-ALL SORTS OF STRAIGHT TRUCKS AND TRACTOR TRAILORS GO DOWN MERIDEN ROAD EVERY DAY.

So, I took some photos to give you an example:

The photo of Musso View Rd with the yellow fire hydrant on the corner of Meriden Rd-does not have the no through truck symbol sign.

The photo of Musso View Avenue that is located on corner of Byam Road, DOES HAVE THE NO THROUGH TRUCK SYMBOL SIGN.

Hey wait a minute-did YOU NOTICE what I just noticed? The street signs ARE DIFFERENT-the Musso View road sign that comes out to Meriden Rd says “Musso View Rd”

The Musso View street sign that comes out to Byam Road says “Musso View AVENUE!!

What gives??

Google Map says Musso View AVENUE.

I know we have Marion ROAD in Cheshire and Marion AVENUE in Southington and they do connect into each other so I thought that maybe Musso View ROAD was in Wolcott.

I did call the CPD  to ask just that question and they confirmed that Musso View Avenueis IN CHESHIRE-so why the different endings? IS IT AVE OR RD?? OOPS-SOMEONE GOOFED!!

So no matter if it is ROAD OR AVENUE-I do hope the town of Cheshire installs the “No Through Truck” symbol sign and straightens out the NAME OF THIS ROAD!!
THIS MAY BE A MATTER FOR THE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION.

Finally, town of Cheshire-let us look at what the Meriden Police Dept is doing to reduce fuel consumption on their police vehicles:

Click here

At LEAST put this unit on that gas guzzling Ford Expedition the CPD INSISTS ON DRIVING AROUND TOWN ALL DAY!!