The Dispatch has submitted a public records complaint to the Mississippi Ethics Commission against the city of Columbus, alleging that a request for records from the Columbus Police Department was ignored.

The newspaper emailed the complaint to the commission’s Jackson headquarters on Thursday.

On Jan. 11, government reporter Brian Jones submitted a public records request via email to Chief Financial Officer and Secretary/Treasurer James Brigham, requesting CPD incident reports arising from the physical address of Yo’ Bar, a local nightclub, as well as copies of documents pertaining to calls for service to that address, from Jan. 1, 2022 until Jan. 11, 2023.

The request was part of an investigation into several shootings that happened at Yo’ Bar or involved people who had been there.

Copies of the request were also sent to Public Information Officer Joe Dillon, Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell and City Attorney Jeff Turnage.

Turnage had previously told The Dispatch that Brigham’s role included that of city clerk, making him the designated custodian of records, and that he should receive all records requests.

Incident reports are public record, and are subject to disclosure under the Mississippi Public Record Act.

Brigham responded to The Dispatch by email acknowledging receipt of the records request on the day it was submitted. He said he would pass the request along to Police Chief Joseph Daughtry and inform The Dispatch of any costs to produce the records “if they exist” once he heard from Daughtry.

The law requires a response in writing within seven business days.

On Jan. 25, the seventh business day, Dispatch managing editor Zack Plair emailed Brigham to ask for an update. Brigham said via email he had not received a response from the police department.

On Jan. 26, the day after the deadline passed, Jones went in person to City Hall and asked Brigham if the request had been fulfilled.

“I still haven’t gotten anything from the police department,” Brigham said.

Earlier this week, Brigham had responded timely to two other records requests by The Dispatch.

“Incident reports should be readily available and kept in an easily retrievable form by the city,” the Dispatch’s complaint reads. “It’s troubling in this case that the city did not produce a response to the request at all, outside of Brigham’s acknowledgement of receipt and updates that he did not have the information.”

“The city of Columbus is typically remarkably good about producing public documents,” said Dispatch publisher Peter Imes. “I have no doubt this is an oversight, but filing a complaint with the Ethics Commission is the recourse we have when public bodies don’t provide public documents.”