The Metropolitan Police Department has paid outside counsel more than $75,000 to represent it in a case over investigative reporter Jeff German’s devices.
What Are They Hiding?
Bob Conrad with This Is Reno has been embroiled in public records lawsuits, including one seeking answers on how a former Washoe County sheriff’s sergeant was able to alter documents to hide that he was married to two people.
For this story, board President Evelyn Garcia Morales once again did not respond to requests for an interview. The district’s communications office again did not grant an interview.
Government employees’ salaries are routinely requested public records, but the Lyon County School District denied access to that information earlier this year.
Since 2017, government agencies have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a law firm to help them hide information from taxpayers.
A highly paid Henderson police public information officer wrote in an email that he would make sure any officers interviewed are part of a favorable story.
Taxpayers fund the salaries, benefits and pensions of Metropolitan Police Department staff, but the fees make transparency unaffordable for average residents, according to critics.
The Metropolitan Police Department needs to be more transparent, according to Benjamin Lipman, the Review-Journal’s chief legal officer.
Agencies often use fees to deter the public from gaining access to public records, experts say.
Attorney General Aaron Ford took months longer than other constitutional officers to release calendars of their first five months in office.
The dental board’s former counsel has accused her ex-employer and the attorney general’s office of violating open government laws, including withholding public records.
Nevada Peace Officer Standards and Training is the governing body responsible for the training and certification of police officers in the state.
Clark County will consider paying a $170,000 settlement related to litigation with the Las Vegas Review-Journal over the release of child autopsies.
The Metropolitan Police Department said its Internal Affairs Bureau Accountability Report was no longer produced because it did not suit its business needs.
The Nevada Legislature uses tax dollars to investigate its own lawmakers but blocks the public release of information about the investigations.