OC Today-Dispaatch MAY 31, 2024
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PHOTO COURTESY OF OCYACHTSHOTS.COM
FOGGY DAY Ocean City, as viewed from Cape Isle of Wight, is shrouded in a thin layer of fog in this photo taken last Saturday. With water of varying temperatures on both sides, Ocean City often has its own weather system.
Micro Post gets police docs my ... Litigation ends with newspaper getting access to records
Micro means small, but In looking into the Ocean City Police Department’s use of force, The Washington the damage left by a storm Post said the state’s public records law dictated that certain documents should be last Friday was no small thing.— Pages 12-13 made available. The OCPD disagreed. The Post won, mostly.— Page 3
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OC Today-Dispatch
MAY 31, 2024
MAY 31, 2024
OC Today-Dispatch
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Judge sides with newspaper over use of force documents By Bethany Hooper Associate Editor (May 31, 2024) The Mayor and Council is considering its options following a recent court judgment that partially sided with The Washington Post in its request for use of force records. On May 24, Worcester County Circuit Court Judge Brian Shockley ordered the Mayor and City Council to provide The Washington Post with use of force records and internal reviews it had requested from the Ocean City Police Department back in 2021. The decision comes two months after a court hearing in which attorneys for both parties presented their motions for summary judgment. “The Mayor and City Council are aware of the Court’s decision regarding the lawsuit with The Washington Post,” City Manager Terry McGean said this week. “The opinion is being reviewed at this time, and the Mayor and Council are considering all options related to the Court’s decision.” In 2021, following two high-profile arrests on the Boardwalk, Post reporter Steve Thompson filed records requests with the Ocean City Police Department seeking data and internal reviews relating to police officers’ use of force. The complaint, first filed
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in December of 2022, said the department failed to provide information for three of the requests – one seeking use of force data from Jan. 1, 2016 to June 30, 2021, one seeking internal reviews of two use of force incidents that occurred on the Boardwalk in June of 2021, and one seeking all reviews and investigations of a lieutenant’s actions on the Boardwalk the night of May 31, 2020. “At issue here, Mr. Thompson made three requests to the Department seeking records related to use of force by Ocean City officers, but he has not received all of the information he seeks and to which he is entitled under the law,” the complaint reads. During the motions hearing in March, Bruce Bright, attorney for the Mayor and City Council, said two of the records requests were denied as they constituted personnel records. He noted that while Anton’s Law, which was cited in the newspaper’s lawsuit, allows the public access to police misconduct records, he argued the records in question did not involve misconduct. He also argued that any use of force recorded during an arrest or incident is reviewed by the department. He noted, however, See JUDGE Page 75
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