Shortcomings of records law seen in ruling

  A recent court ruling against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio underlines the major shortcomings of Arizona's public records law.

  This law is intended to ensure that the public will have access to records at public agencies, but the reality is that agencies can still find ways to make it difficult to get the information.

  In Arpaio's case, New Times, a publication in Phoenix, sued him over the amount of time it took for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department to provide the public records the publication requested involving various cases.

  Two cases, in particular, were cited in a report by Capitol Media Services.

  One involved an opponent of Arpaio in an election four years ago. At first the sheriff's office denied having the records, then found them after the publication filed suit. But that was 143 days after the request and after the election was over.

  In another incident, records weren't provided for 141 days simply because the sheriff's office employee involved said she did want to talk with the reporter.

  It's the law that public records have to be provided to the public "promptly." The Arizona Supreme Court recently confirmed a lower court ruling the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department violated the law by ignoring the promptness requirement. It may eventually have to pay the legal costs of the newspaper as punishment, but only if the court finds the acts were in bad faith, arbitrary or capricious.

  This illustrates two problems with the public records law.

  First, "promptly" is essentially useless as a definition of when records must be provided. A court has to decide if the records aren't being provided in a timely manner. This involves costly legal action and delays. There needs to be a definite outer time frame in the law for providing records, perhaps no more than three business days.

  Second, there are no real teeth in the law, allowing agencies to subvert it with little consequence.

  Both those things must be changed by the Legislature so the public records law has real meaning for the people of Arizona.