Broken Records: Citizens face growing obstacles to public records, and legislators are making them worse

(Investigate West) — Emily Moyer, a 37-year-old photographer, was hoping nationalist records could thief prevention her fiance.

With his criminal history and an apprehension for supplier and firearm possession charges, she said, he was facing life successful prison. His nationalist defender was overwhelmed.

So connected April 12 of past year, Moyer asked for nan disciplinary records for a slew of Spokane constabulary officers progressive pinch her fiance’s case. Speed was crucial: The proceedings was successful August.

Moyer was utilizing 1 of nan astir important devices nan nationalist has for holding authorities agencies accountable. Ever since voters passed nan Washington Public Records Act inaugural successful 1972, everybody — nary matter who they are — tin get copies of astir documents produced by authorities and section nationalist agencies. Think of it arsenic a ineligible crowbar that anyone tin usage to ace unfastened nan government’s closed doors, revealing nan secrets inside.

Indeed, erstwhile Moyer sewage nan first records back, they showed aggregate officers pinch a history of subject problems. Officer Darrell Quarles, to sanction one, had been written up for many times failing to activate his assemblage camera, making an forbidden postulation extremity and associating pinch a drug-dealing prostitute. The records could person “raised credibility questions arsenic acold arsenic Officer Quarles testifying,” Moyer said.

But by past it was Sept. 29. The proceedings had been complete for astir a month. Quarles had testified, and her fiance had already been sentenced to 16 years successful prison.

She’s still waiting connected nan remainder of nan records.

“It really does maine nary bully now,” Moyer said. “I conscionable thought it was weird that they waited that long.”

But successful Spokane, astatine least, it isn’t weird for records requests to return that long: It’s frustratingly common. Roughly 100 records requests to nan metropolis of Spokane from November 2022 done November 2023 took six months aliases longer to fulfill, according to nan city’s records log. In fact, a petition to get conscionable a database of requests took complete 4 months.

When InvestigateWest brought nan problem to Spokane’s leadership, recently-elected Mayor Lisa Brown committed to hiring caller unit and a assembly personnel projected passing caller authorities to effort to hole it.

But nan problem isn’t conscionable successful Spokane.

The metropolis of Spokane includes much item successful its records logs than galore cities, but it was almost six times slower successful providing records than immoderate different awesome metropolis successful nan Pacific Northwest. | Daniel Walters, InvestigateWest graphic

“Delays are terrible,” says David Cuillier, head of nan Brechner Freedom of Information Project astatine nan University of Florida, which advocates for nationalist records access. “They’re getting worse.”

A rising flood of records requests — driven by partisan tensions, technological innovation, firm data-mining, and “vexatious requestors” bombarding governments — person progressively swamped under-resourced records agencies. Across nan Northwest and nan country, citizens are facing longer hold times, steep fees and different obstacles to obtaining authorities records nan rule says they deserve. It’s happening astatine nan national level, too, pinch mean hold times doubling successful nan past decade, Cuillier said.

The consciousness that nationalist records responses passim nan region were slowing to a crawl sparked an research by InvestigateWest: to measure nan speed, thoroughness and costs of section nationalist records systems, we gave nan aforesaid 2 grounds requests to 15 cities successful nan Pacific Northwest.

The results varied dramatically, but highlighted nan seriousness of 2 awesome barriers: In Washington’s largest cities, nan delays for immoderate types of records could agelong retired months, while nan records fees successful Oregon and Idaho could tally into nan hundreds — aliases moreover thousands — of dollars.

As requests support flooding in, records advocates fearfulness that legislators successful each 3 states will respond by further damming up entree to nationalist accusation — raising fees and passing ever much laws limiting nan readiness of nationalist records. And successful Washington, successful particular, transparency advocates and records clerks say, specified rules person made nan delays overmuch worse.

“It’s a shame,” Cuillier said, “because successful our research, Washington authorities was 1 of nan champion states successful nan state erstwhile it comes to entree to authorities information.”

The test

Last December, InvestigateWest asked nan 5 biggest cities successful Washington, Oregon and Idaho for their log of records requests from November 2022 done November 2023. We besides asked each metropolis for a week’s worthy of communications involving either nan politician aliases nan metropolis administrator aliases managers.

Vancouver, Washington, was nan clear winner, completing some requests — including complete 1,800 pages worthy of emails and texts — wrong conscionable 8 days. And dissimilar Portland, which asked InvestigateWest to salary $1,800 for communications involving nan city’s politician aliases main of staff, Vancouver didn’t complaint a dime.

Washington’s 2 largest cities struggled: Spokane was by acold nan slowest, taking 129 days to supply records logs, astir six times slower than immoderate different metropolis tested. InvestigateWest has been waiting much than 7 months for Spokane to merchandise each nan requested messages from nan politician and metropolis administrator. Seattle, meanwhile, took 42 days to present an installment of conscionable 9 messages from nan politician and nan main operating officer.

Both Portland’s and Spokane’s records departments objected to InvestigateWest’s test, arguing that it was for illustration comparing “apples and oranges,” considering nan wide assortment successful metropolis sizes, staffing levels and varying occupation titles.

Indeed, nan trial had a slew of limitations: Spokane’s records log, for example, was acold much elaborate than Caldwell’s aliases Portland’s. A fewer cities, for illustration Portland and Seattle, didn’t person immoderate “city administrator” aliases “city manager,” forcing america to prime different high-level official. Some cities mistakenly provided only messages betwixt nan 2 officials, alternatively of each messages that included either.

But InvestigateWest’s trial is conscionable 1 information constituent successful a constellation of grounds pointing to nan aforesaid problems. Data submitted to nan Washington Legislature show that Spokane took a afloat period of business days to complete a records petition connected mean successful 2022 — 3 times longer than nan mean metropolis successful nan state. Seattle took almost doubly arsenic agelong arsenic Spokane.

Several cities successful Oregon and Idaho were consenting to trim fees aliases springiness InvestigateWest a free sample of nan records we requested – but Hillsboro was nan only metropolis successful nan 2 states to assistance a afloat nationalist liking waiver for our records request. | Daniel Walters, InvestigateWest graphic

Individual examples abound. When Nate Sanford, a newsman astatine nan Inlander newspaper, asked nan metropolis of Spokane for a transcript of its 2022 records log, he was told he would get it wrong “approximately 2 weeks.” It took 10 months.

And erstwhile Stranger newsman Ashley Nerbovig asked nan Seattle Police Department for a azygous archive connected June 3, she was told she would person it by nan 28th — of February 2025.

“A female tin nutrient a babe successful astir arsenic agelong arsenic it takes SPD to nutrient a azygous constabulary report,” she wrote connected societal media.

Laws successful nan 3 states disagree connected really quickly officials must fulfill requests. Idaho’s rule requires providing astir records wrong 10 business days. Oregon’s encourages completing a consequence wrong 15 days — though it lets cities descent if, say, they don’t person capable staffing. Washington rule requires governmental agencies to supply nan “fullest assistance to inquirers and nan astir timely imaginable action connected requests for information,” including providing a “reasonable clip estimate” wrong 5 days.

“‘Reasonable”’ depends connected nan record, said lawyer Kathy George, who has represented organizations for illustration nan Seattle Times successful records-related lawsuits. She noted, however, it would beryllium “ridiculous to return 5 months to nutrient a azygous record” for illustration a records log. Plenty of cities passim nan region look to sometimes break that standard.

Anyone tin writer complete unreasonable delays, but galore citizens — and media outlets — can’t spend to. And Candice Bock, lobbyist for nan Association of Washington Cities, says nan anticipation of lawsuits tin backfire — making nationalist records officers much tense and little forthcoming.

“When you are worried astir ‘Will this consequence successful litigation?’ it slows things down,” Bock said.

The awesome records glut

Major records delays tin consequence from mediocre records organization, understaffing aliases miscommunications, records advocates say. But talk to records officers and they’ll constituent to 1 problem successful particular: volume.

According to authorities Legislature data, nan mean clip it took Washington cities to complete records requests accrued by 25 percent from 2018 to 2022. One reason? The number of requests had accrued by much than a third.

“Over nan past decade, what I perceive nan astir from cities is conscionable they get truthful galore much requests,” Bock said. “And nan requests are much complicated.”

Technology was expected to travel to nan rescue. Since 2005, Washington’s Local Governments Grant Program has fixed distant millions to thief cities and counties upgrade to grounds guidance package for illustration GovQA.

That did make nan process much efficient. But it besides removed nan velocity bumps successful some directions. It was easier to fulfill requests and easier to make them, too.

“These online portals reduced a batch of nan clash to making these records requests,” said Tony Dinaro, nationalist records serviceman for Spokane County, which utilized nan assistance programme to upgrade to GovQA successful 2018. “It made it a batch much visible to people.”

At nan aforesaid time, Dan Huizinga, merchandise head for GovQA, said governments kept producing much records, “as nationalist agencies move done nan process of integer transformation.”

When constabulary departments started utilizing assemblage cameras, each that video became disposable to activists, attorneys, and those YouTube channels that move constabulary footage into videos pinch titles that see “When a Cannibal Killer Spots His Next Meal” and “Woman Uses Her Teeth to Rip Out Sister’s Eye.”

When COVID hit, officials began holding meetings connected Zoom, Microsoft Teams and WebEx, creating caller genres of records.

“It’s like, ‘Oh, gosh, we’ve sewage these chats,’” Bock said. “When do you support them? How do you support them? Where do you support them? We support adding to nan pile.”

As distrust successful institutions has grown, partisans and skeptics person relied connected records requests to do their ain research. As election-related conspiracy theories person grown, Dinaro said 1 Spokane County man precocious asked for 3 weeks of footage from each surveillance camera extracurricular nan Spokane predetermination office.

Widely publicized constabulary abuses person ignited a swarm of inquiries into constabulary departments. National fights astir COVID restrictions, captious title mentation and transgender identities led to an detonation of records requests of schools from blimpish groups and parents.

And that tin spark backlash against nan grounds process. When Toby Nixon, erstwhile president of nan Washington Coalition for Open Government, gave his nationalist records position to nan section section of Moms for Liberty, a far-right group activistic group, he was accused by 1 professional of school “extremists really to load section schoolhouse districts” pinch “unnecessary records requests” utilized arsenic a “tool to harass and intimidate.”

The rich | get records

Carrie Wilton, ineligible records supervisor for nan metropolis of Portland, marvels astatine nan measurement that residents successful Washington tin “ask for nan full world” and there’s small officials tin do to curtail them.

By contrast, Oregon and Idaho complaint fees for analyzable records requests. Ultimately, Wilton argues, that is an advantage for everybody. Records officers tin usage fees to effort to push requesters to constrictive wide requests, and supply records much quickly.

In 2017, Washington passed authorities to let immoderate agencies to statesman to usage constricted fees arsenic an effort to deter “vexatious requesters” — those who inquire for unreasonably ample batches of records, peculiarly those pinch malicious intent.

Spokane City Councilmember Michael Cathcart is proposing nan transition of a caller ordinance to require putting already completed records requests online. | Daniel Walters/InvestigateWest

But typically, fees successful Washington ray successful comparison to neighboring states.

One study of tens of thousands of records requests made done MuckRock, a records assistance website, recovered that their Idaho requesters faced nan steepest fees successful nan country, while fees person remained nan lowest successful Washington.

Reporters from Portland picture nan interest speech process arsenic a changeless root of frustration, a haggling ritual that becomes a conflict of wills.

Worst of all, since Oregon charges for nan existent wages progressive pinch nan activity performed, nan much inefficient an agency is, nan higher nan penalty.

“I erstwhile had a mini metropolis eastbound of present that had 17 different group reappraisal a petition and each 1 of them charged by nan hour,” said Therese Bottomly, editor of The Oregonian.

A 2023 study co-authored by Cuillier based on that “aggressive pursuit of fees simply adds different task to already overburdened agency staff” while serving arsenic a obstruction for those that “cannot pay, namely, regular citizens, journalists, and scholarly researchers.”

In theory, records staffers successful some Oregon and Idaho tin waive fees if nan records are successful nan nationalist interest. But that tin beryllium wildly inconsistent.

InvestigateWest requested a interest waiver for a week of communications involving either nan Portland politician aliases his main of staff. The estimated $1,800 measure worked retired to astir $63 an hour, aliases an estimated $9 for each 10 messages. Portland offered to supply 1 hr of free work, but wouldn’t budge connected nan wide value unless we narrowed our request.

Of nan 9 different cities InvestigateWest sent akin records requests to successful Oregon and Idaho, only 1 — Hillsboro, Oregon — was consenting to afloat waive nan fees. InvestigateWest didn’t salary nan fees — and therefore, was not capable to get each nan requested records.

In 2022, nan Salem Reporter asked for documents relating to nan exit of nan lawman constabulary chief. Salem initially charged complete $4,200 for 1 group of records. The newspaper raised money from their readers to screen nan costs earlier nan metropolis relented. In 2020, nan Oregonian had to salary much than $2,000 to get receipts from Douglas County showing that commissioners had wildly misspent national costs connected lavish flights and dinners.

“The clear emotion among practitioners who usage nan nationalist records rule a batch — not conscionable journalists — is that fees are different measurement to create hurdles to disclosure to make group spell away,” Bottomly said.

And if requesters are genuinely trying to beryllium a nuisance, moreover Portland-sized fees won’t extremity them.

In December 2022, Patrick Cashman — a Portland records activistic who antecedently crusaded against nan city’s refusal to uncover nan way of nan World Naked Bike Ride — asked for each azygous grounds nan metropolis had already released that twelvemonth to different requesters. It was an attempt, he wrote successful an email to InvestigateWest, to push nan metropolis to upload each those records to an unfastened information portal for illustration national agencies do.

Instead, Portland asked him for astir $68,000 to re-review and upload nan records again. So Cashman deed back: He divided up his petition into 365 abstracted pieces, 1 for each day.

Cashman’s not supra paying for records — he shelled retired astir $3,000 for Portland records unsocial — but Wilton said he didn’t salary nan measure connected immoderate of those 365. He conscionable made nan metropolis jump done a year’s worthy of hoops, past abandoned them. To Cashman, it was a “free reside exercise,” a measurement to protestation an unaccountable, “byzantine” records bureaucracy.

“I bask torturing metropolis unit because it really is nan only measurement we citizens tin get immoderate payback,” Cashman wrote successful an email to InvestigateWest, reasoning he “might arsenic good make each time of their life an unendurable hellhole until they determine connected a different career.”

A study issued this twelvemonth from Portland’s Legal Records Team dedicated an full conception to Cashman and called for caller authorities to stymie this benignant of requester.

But records advocates are wary of specified proposals. The statement betwixt vexatious and simply persistent is thin, and sometimes gadflies and trolls uncover scandals and alteration policies. Bottomly recalled a female who’s made galore records requests astir nan Multnomah County Animal Shelter complete 2 decades.

“That is personification who has made it her life’s ngo to beryllium a national watchdog of nan animal shelters,” Bottomly said. “There are citizens who, bless ’em, return very earnestly their work to show government.”

And moreover nan requests of personification for illustration Cashman are dwarfed by nan existent giants successful nan room: information brokers.

In a little span betwixt 3:50 and 3:55 a.m. connected Feb. 7, Justin McNeal made 14 grounds requests successful Portland, portion of a spree of 151 requests that time alone.

And past year? McNeal made complete 9,000 grounds requests to Portland — 11 times much than each media petition successful 2023 combined, almost each for mishap reports.

McNeal doesn’t unrecorded successful Portland. He lives successful Atlanta, wherever he’s an operations head for LexisNexis Risk Solutions.

LexisNexis is simply a information broker, a institution that makes its luck hoovering up records connected practically everything — criminal history, debtor accusation — and past trading records and information insights to security companies, rule enforcement and moreover backmost to consumers.

Through LexisNexis, McNeal paid Portland much than $110,000 past year. Meanwhile, a azygous requester from a competitor, MetroReporting, paid much than $13,000 for complete a 1000 individual records past year.

It was nan requests from these sorts of companies that, according to a study from Portland’s Legal Records Team, brought nan Portland Police Bureau grounds strategy to its knees. At its worst, successful January 2022, Portland’s constabulary records had a backlog of complete 22,000 unfastened requests and two-thirds of them were taking much than 2 months to fulfill.

Cuillier, nan records expert, said it underscores his study that shows fees don’t do overmuch to deter immoderate of nan astir high-volume requesters — for illustration attorneys aliases information brokers.

“These companies, they’re perfectly happy paying to get this information because they make money disconnected it,” he said. “The nationalist liking requesters … they’re ones who are getting hosed.”

650 and counting

In nan past decade, location person been reforms to grow records entree successful Oregon. But Washington and Idaho legislators support moving successful nan different direction.

In 2020, Idaho legislators passed a measure to exclude legislative notes and nan names of backstage citizens who pass pinch them from records requests. And past year, The Olympian reported, Washington authorities House Democrats figured retired a imaginative measurement to reinterpret a authorities constitution proviso into a “legislative privilege” that they person utilized to disregard galore records requests.

Some legislators person pointed to nan load connected section governments and authorities agencies arsenic a logic for weakening nationalist records laws. This year, for example, Idaho legislators passed bills doubling nan clip allowed to capable records requests coming from retired of state.

Yet by winnowing nationalist records laws, legislators person often made nan delays worse.

The difficult portion of a clerk’s occupation isn’t locating records. It’s reference thousands of pages of documents, spotting parts they legally request to redact — for illustration lists of names if a requester wants them for commercialized purposes — and blacking them out. The much redactions required, nan much analyzable nan job.

And successful nan past half-dozen years, Washington authorities legislators person turned unit records into a Swiss-cheese artifact of exemptions.

“Every twelvemonth nan Legislature adds, connected average, a twelve aliases much exemptions. We’re now up to much than 650,” said George Erb, pinch nan Washington Coalition for Open Government, a nonprofit that advocates for governmental transparency. “Every clip they do that, it conscionable makes nan enactment much analyzable for everybody. Our ain nationalist records lawyers opportunity that … moreover they person a difficult clip keeping up.”

One caller rule mandated that if accusation was contained successful a unit file, nan agency had to interaction each worker mentioned to springiness them a chance to legally situation nan request.

Another required labor to achromatic retired unfortunate and witnesser names from harassment aliases favoritism investigation records.

Even thing that seems for illustration a insignificant alteration could beryllium hellhole connected records clerks: Consider a 2020 rule requiring redacting nan months and year, but not nan day, of nationalist worker birthdays.

“If each we had to do was redact that full column, that would beryllium easy,” Dinaro said. “But no, instead, what we person to do is person this spreadsheet to a PDF, and past make these mini small boxes connected each row.”

But if a journalist requests nan record, nan rule says nan birthdays shouldn’t beryllium redacted astatine all.

The complications compound until they sound for illustration nan setup to a bad joke: A journalist, a commercialized information broker, and a funny national each locomotion into a metropolis clerk’s agency and petition nan aforesaid group of worker names and birthdays. The clerk has to redact their records 3 different times successful 3 different ways.

The Legislature hadn’t conscionable added much activity for clerks. They’d multiplied it.

Record comebacks

At nan section level, astatine least, immoderate leaders are trying to fig retired ways to easiness nan load connected clerks without cutting disconnected nationalist access.

Spokane City Councilmember Michael Cathcart told InvestigateWest he plans to resurrect a 2021 connection to station galore already-processed records online. It’s a spot for illustration what nan metropolis of San Diego and nan Oregon governor’s agency do.

In consequence to InvestigateWest’s reporting astir slow record-response time, Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown says she’ll effort to adhd different metropolis clerk position to nan budget, among different reforms. | Daniel Walters, InvestigateWest

And Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown is proposing to prosecute a caller records clerk pinch nan midyear budget.

“It’s nan correct point to do to person unfastened and transparent government,” Brown said.

Despite nan delays, Brown praised nan city’s clerks for their thoroughness and attraction to detail.

“That’s affirmative erstwhile it comes to nationalist records,” she said. “The rumor is velocity and capacity.”

In a statement, nan clerk’s agency indicated they had agelong been under-resourced and overwhelmed. The metropolis has 3 clerks dedicated to handling requests sent to their office, on pinch different who splits her clip moving connected occurrence section records. Since 2014, nan clerk’s agency handles a large chunk of constabulary records arsenic well.

The clerk assigned to InvestigateWest’s petition for nan grounds logs had ne'er redacted that benignant of archive before. She was handling complete 100 different requests astatine nan aforesaid time.

“We’re going to adhd capacity,” Brown said. “But we’re besides going to look astatine champion practices and different technologies and ways to amended nan system. … At slightest 1 personification mentioned nan thought that AI could beryllium a portion of this.”

Brown said 1 metropolis they’ll beryllium looking to is Vancouver, Washington, conscionable crossed nan Columbia River from Portland.

While InvestigateWest is still waiting six months later for Spokane to manus complete over a week’s worthy of communications involving nan politician aliases metropolis administrator, Vancouver completed nan full point successful only 8 days.

The mean Vancouver petition successful 2022 only took 10 days to decorativeness — a 3rd nan clip of Spokane and a 5th nan clip of Seattle.

Vancouver City Attorney Cary Driskell didn’t sanction immoderate peculiarly zesty concealed condiment responsible for Vancouver’s speed. Sometimes they do complaint fees for peculiarly voluminous requests. Often, they’ll prevention clip by disclosing much than they person to. They’ll create records — for illustration nan records logs — successful a measurement that makes them a batch easier to release.

“These are presumed to beryllium records belonging to nan public, and they person a correct to spot them. I don’t deliberation each jurisdictions person had that approach,” Driskell said. “Vancouver puts up rather a batch of resources towards getting these responded to successful a timely fashion.”

Sometimes, that’s nan unsexy reply to fixing a surgery records system: Spend money.

In 2020, Portland created a typical initiative, nan “Police Records Backlog Project,” that tapped ineligible staff, backstage attorneys, and moreover Portland Police Bureau recruits to excavation done nan backlog. And today, nan squad reports, they’ve honed their process, which intends quicker responses and little fees.

“There are excessively galore nationalist agencies astatine each levels who do not spot nationalist disclosure of accusation arsenic a halfway usability of government,” Bottomly said. “They spot it arsenic an added load that they must carry. They don’t fund for it, they don’t unit for it.”

InvestigateWest is an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative publicity successful nan Pacific Northwest. A Report for America corps member, Daniel Walters covers populist and extremism crossed nan region. He tin beryllium reached astatine daniel@invw.org.