And in Sacramento, the local sheriff's office told a TV station it would “be inappropriate for us to comment about any agency that may be using the technology” in light of a Harris nondisclosure agreement.
Many of the requests were part of an effort to investigate the devices by Gannett Co. Inc., which publishes USA Today and owns other newspapers and television stations around the country.
“I don't see how public agencies can make up an agreement with a private company that breaks state law,” said David Cuillier, the director of the University of Arizona's journalism school and a national expert on public-records laws. “We can't have the commercial sector running our governments for us. These public agencies need to be forthright and transparent.”
A representative for Melbourne, Fla.-based Harris Corp. declined to comment or elaborate on how the company's agreements comport with open records laws. Court documents in Hodai's case show Harris' agreement required the Tucson city government not to “discuss, publish, release or disclose any information” about its products without the company's written consent.
The agreement also required the city to contact Harris when it receives public-records requests about a “protected product,” like a Stingray, so that the company can “challenge
any such request in court.” The police department declined to comment on Hodai's lawsuit.
He had sought Harris contracts and police emails about how the technology is used. Email records show a Harris contract manager advised a Tucson police sergeant on what records couldn't be released to the public; the manager relied on the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, which governs records of the executive branch of the federal government.
Nathan Freed Wessler, a staff attorney with the ACLU, said there's often a distinction in public-records laws to protect bona fide trade secrets - such as circuit board diagrams - as opposed to broader information like agency policies governing a Stingray's use or purchase agreements. He said police in Florida have declined to tell judges about the use of Stingrays because of nondisclosure agreements.
A December 2013 investigation by USA Today found roughly 1 in 4 law enforcement agencies it surveyed had performed tower dumps, and slightly fewer owned a Stingray. But the report also said 36 additional agencies refused to provide details on their use, with most denying the newspaper's public-records requests.
Updated on: March 22, 2014 16:24 IST
