The Society of Professional Journalists--University of Hawaii Campus Chapter has won a major First Amendment victory in its three-year battle to disclose the names of disciplined police officers.
On Nov. 15, 1996, the court issued a 61-page ruling that said the Honolulu Police Department must release the names of disciplined officers as requested by the student journalists in August, 1993. The unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice Ronald Moon makes it clear that the public's right to know outweights the police officers' right to privacy.
"...(W)e hold that information regarding police officer's misconduct in the course of his or her duties as a police officer is not within the protection of Hawaii's constitutional right of privacy," Moon wrote. Moon added that secrecy provisions in public worker collective bargaining contracts cannot supersede the state's open records law.
Gerald Kato, an Assistant Professor of Journalism and SPJ--UH adviser, hailed the decision as vindication of the efforts made by the student journalists to defend the public's right to know in Hawaii.
"This is a big, big victory, not just for the Society of Professional Journalists, but for the public's right to know in general, which in the last few years has taken a beating in this state. SPJ--UH's attorney Jeffrey S. Portnoy called the decision a "landmark case." Portnoy said SPJ--UH won on nearly every point raised on appeal in the case.n this case present "a very practical lesson in the First Amendment." "The public is entitled to disciplinary records including the names of all public employees who have exhausted their administrative remedies," Portnoy said.
The request to disclose the names of disciplined police officers was made by former SPJ--UH President Jahan Byrne on Aug. 30, 1993. That request sparked the court case in which the police union--the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers (SHOPO)--sued the police department to block release of the names.
In 1995, SHOPO successfully lobbied the Hawaii Legislature to exempt police officers from provisions of the open records law that make disciplinary actions a matter of public record. But the Hawaii Supreme Court said that SPJ--UH is still entitled to the information it initially requested covering disciplinary actions from 1991 to the spring of 1993.
The Honolulu Police Department is expected to release the information within the next few weeks.
Portnoy is a member of the Honolulu law firm of Cades Schutte Fleming and Wright. For his tireless work on this case, Portnoy was the recipient of a First Amendment Award from the national Society of Professional Journalists in 1995.
Kato said the student involvement in this case present "a very practical lesson in the First Amendment."
