Public Records: An easy fix
From The Florida Times-Union:
Simple solutions can sometimes ward off sticky problems.Exhibit A, in this case, is State Attorney Harry Shorstein's good call to change his policy of giving uncopied files to outside agencies.
Twice in the last three years, public access to files involving investigations disappeared when either the FBI or the U.S. Attorney's Office asked for documents from the State Attorney's Office and copies weren't made before handing them over.
The latest case involved records the State Attorney's Office gathered in a probe of the city's minority contracting program that has been making headlines as part of an FBI probe into the Jacksonville port.
The problem is the public can't view, obtain or read about records the office doesn't have. And the FBI - which is not subject to Florida's public records law - has refused to provide Shorstein the records he gave that agency in 2004 until its investigation is over.