The Mississippi Ethics Commission dismissed Feb. 7 a complaint The Dispatch filed against the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, alleging it excessively redacted documents pertaining to Mississippi Highway Patrol vehicular pursuit policies.
On April 15, The Dispatch filed an open records request for Mississippi Highway Patrol policies related to vehicular pursuits. This request included policies on “officers engaging in vehicular pursuits, including limits on when and where pursuits can be initiated, limits on the speed at which officers can travel, limits based on road conditions, and conditions and instructions for ending those pursuits.”
The Dispatch requested these policies following a series of high-speed chases in Lowndes County, including a 2023 chase involving MHP troopers that led to the death of a driver of a vehicle that wasn’t involved in the pursuit.
While this request was initially emailed to MHP Sgt. Derrick Beckom and Bailey Martin, media and public relations for MDPS, it was forwarded to the MDPS records request email the next day.
On April 17, Public Records Administrator Robert Wentworth responded with pages of the MDPS General Order Manual, substantial swaths of which had been redacted. Information redacted included pursuit procedures, pursuit trooper responsibilities, supervisor responsibilities, pursuit tactics, termination of pursuit procedures and inter-jurisdictional pursuit procedures.
When asked for specific reasons for why the redactions had occurred, MDPS General Counsel Jordan McMichael responded on April 25 that the redacted information is exempt from disclosure as an “investigative report,” a term that is defined by Mississippi law in several ways, including as “records that would disclose investigatory techniques and/or the results of investigative techniques.”
The Dispatch submitted a complaint to the Mississippi Ethics Commission May 9, arguing the policies used by MHP pertaining to law enforcement officers engaging in vehicular pursuits do not constitute investigatory techniques. Rather, the paper argued, the policies are a matter of public harm risk negation and excessively redacting these policies is not acceptable.
According to the dismissal order from Mississippi Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Hood, which was written Feb. 7 and postmarked Feb. 14, the ethics commission ruled MDPS did not violate the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983 with its redactions following a confidential review of the documents in question.
“Upon confidential review, the redacted portions would disclose investigative techniques, could endanger the life or safety of law enforcement personnel if disclosed, and/or reflect information that would prematurely release information that would impede the public body’s enforcement, investigation or detection efforts,” Hood wrote. “As such, the redacted portions are investigative reports that are exempt from production under the Act.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
