Ferguson officials are flooded with records requests after Brown shooting

Associated Press

FERGUSON, Mo.

Ferguson officials were inundated with thousands of open-records requests from media outlets and the public after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer.

In response, the St. Louis suburb sought payments of thousands of dollars before even beginning to fulfill some of those requests, and Ferguson’s city attorney has defended that decision.

Some media outlets complained to the Missouri attorney general that Ferguson was violating the state’s Sunshine Law, which is intended to ensure public access to records at a reasonable cost.

The situation highlights the challenges local governments can face when they suddenly become the focus of intense public interest, and the growing threat of high costs to expanding openness at all levels of government — a cornerstone of Sunshine Week. The open government initiative is celebrating its 10th anniversary this week.

“I’m sure being in this kind of a spotlight can seem overwhelming to them,” said Jean Maneke, a Kansas City attorney who specializes in Sunshine Law issues. But she added: “The public has a right to ask questions about how its government works, and it’s in Ferguson’s best interest to be as transparent as it can.”

Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was shot by Darren Wilson, who is white, during an Aug. 9 confrontation. A St. Louis County grand jury and the U.S. Justice Department both declined to charge Wilson, though a separate federal report found evidence of racial profiling and other problems in Ferguson’s police department and court system.