[RSMo. §610.010]
As used in this Chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates,
the following terms mean:
COPYING
If requested by a member of the public, copies provided in
accord with the cost schedule established by this Article, if duplication
equipment is available.
PUBLIC BUSINESS
All matters which relate in any way to performance of the
City's functions or the conduct of its business.
PUBLIC GOVERNMENTAL BODY
Any legislative, administrative or governmental entity created
by the Constitution or Statutes of this State, orders or ordinances
of the City, judicial entities when operating in an administrative
capacity or by executive order, including:
1.
Any advisory committee or commission appointed by the Mayor
or Board of Aldermen.
2.
Any department or division of the City.
3.
Any other legislative or administrative governmental deliberative
body under the direction of three (3) or more elected or appointed
members having rulemaking or quasi-judicial power.
4.
Any committee appointed by or at the direction of any of the
entities and which is authorized to report to any of the above-named
entities, any advisory committee appointed by or at the direction
of any of the named entities for the specific purpose of recommending,
directly to the public governmental body's governing board or its
Chief Administrative Officer, policy or policy revisions or expenditures
of public funds.
5.
Any quasi-public governmental body. The term "quasi-public
governmental body" means any person, corporation or partnership
organized or authorized to do business in this State pursuant to the
provisions of Chapters 352, 353 or 355, RSMo., or unincorporated association
which either:
a.
Has as its primary purpose to enter into contracts with public
governmental bodies or to engage primarily in activities carried out
pursuant to an agreement or agreements with public governmental bodies;
or
b.
Performs a public function, as evidenced by a statutorily or
ordinance-based capacity, to confer or otherwise advance, through
approval, recommendation or other means, the allocation or issuance
of tax credits, tax abatement, public debt, tax exempt debt, rights
of eminent domain, or the contracting of lease-back agreements on
structures whose annualized payments commit public tax revenues; or
any association that directly accepts the appropriation of money from
the City, but only to the extent that a meeting, record or vote relates
to such appropriation.
PUBLIC MEETING
Any meeting of a public governmental body subject to this
Chapter at which any public business is discussed, decided or public
policy formulated, whether such meeting is conducted in person or
by means of communication equipment, including, but not limited to,
conference call, video conference, internet chat, or internet message
board. The term "public meeting" shall not include
an informal gathering of members of a public governmental body for
ministerial or social purposes when there is no intent to avoid the
purposes of this Chapter, but the term shall include a vote of all
or a majority of the members of a public governmental body, by electronic
communication or any other means, conducted in lieu of holding a public
meeting with the members of the public governmental body gathered
at one (1) location in order to conduct public business.
PUBLIC RECORD
Any record, whether written or electronically stored, retained
by or of any public governmental body including any report, survey,
memorandum, or other document or study prepared for the public governmental
body by a consultant or other professional service paid for in whole
or in part by public funds, including records created or maintained
by private contractors under an agreement with a public governmental
body or on behalf of a public governmental body. The term "public record" shall not include any internal memorandum
or letter received or prepared by or on behalf of a member of a public
governmental body consisting of advice, opinions and recommendations
in connection with the deliberative decision-making process of said
body, unless such records are retained by the public governmental
body or presented at a public meeting. Any documents or study prepared
for a public governmental body by a consultant or other professional
service as described in this subdivision shall be retained by the
public governmental body in the same manner as any other public record.
PUBLIC VOTE
Any vote, whether conducted in person, by telephone, or by
any other electronic means, cast at any public meeting of any public
governmental body.
[RSMo. §610.025]
Any member of a public governmental body who transmits any message
relating to public business by electronic means shall also concurrently
transmit that message to either the member's public office computer
or the custodian or records in the same format. The provisions of
this Section shall only apply to messages sent to two (2) or more
members of that body so that, when counting the sender, a majority
of the body's members are copied. Any such message received by the
custodian or at the member's office computer shall be a public record
subject to the exception of Section 610.021, RSMo.
[RSMo. §§610.020.1, 610.020.2, 610.020.4, 610.022(2)]
A. All
public governmental bodies shall give notice of the time, date and
place of each meeting and its tentative agenda in a manner reasonably
calculated to advise the public of the matters to be considered, and
if the meeting will be conducted by telephone or other electronic
means, the notice of the meeting shall identify the mode by which
the meeting will be conducted and the designated location where the
public may observe and attend the meeting. If a public body plans
to meet by internet chat, internet message board, or other computer
link, it shall post a notice of the meeting on its website in addition
to its principal office and shall notify the public how to access
that meeting. Reasonable notice shall include making available copies
of the notice to any representative of the news media who requests
notice of meetings of a particular public governmental body concurrent
with the notice being made available to the members of the particular
governmental body and posting the notice on the appropriate bulletin
board at the City Hall.
B. Notice conforming with all of the requirements of Subsection
(A) of this Section shall be given at least twenty-four (24) hours, exclusive of weekends and holidays when City Hall is closed, prior to the commencement of any meeting of a governmental body unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case as much notice as is reasonably possible shall be given.
C. Each governmental body proposing to hold a closed meeting or vote shall give notice of the time, date and place of such closed meeting or vote and the reason for holding it by reference to a specific exception allowed pursuant to Section
120.020 hereof. The notice shall be the same as described in Subsection
(A) herein.
D. A formally
constituted subunit of a parent governmental body may conduct a meeting
without notice during a lawful meeting of the parent governmental
body, a recess in that meeting, or immediately following that meeting
if the meeting of the subunit is publicly announced at the parent
meeting and the subject of the meeting reasonably coincides with the
subjects discussed or acted upon by the parent governmental body.
[RSMo. §§610.022.1, 610.022.3]
A. Except as set forth in Subsection
(C) of Section
120.040, no meeting or vote may be closed without an affirmative public vote of the majority of a quorum of the public governmental body. The vote of each member of the governmental body on the question of closing a public meeting or vote and the specific reason for closing that public meeting or vote by reference to a specific Section of this Chapter shall be announced publicly at an open meeting of the governmental body and entered into the minutes.
B. Any meeting or vote closed pursuant to Section
120.020 shall be closed only to the extent necessary for the specific reason announced to justify the closed meeting or vote. Public governmental bodies shall not discuss any business in a closed meeting, record or vote. Public governmental bodies holding a closed meeting shall close only an existing portion of the meeting facility necessary to house the members of the public governmental body in the closed session, allowing members of the public to remain to attend any subsequent open session held by the public governmental body following the closed session.
[RSMo. §§610.015, 610.020.6]
A. Except as provided in Section
120.020, rules authorized pursuant to Article III of the Missouri Constitution and as otherwise provided by law, all votes shall be recorded, and if a roll call is taken, as to attribute each "yea" and "nay" vote, or abstinence if not voting, to the name of the individual member of the public governmental body. Any votes taken during a closed meeting shall be taken by roll call. All public meetings shall be open to the public and public votes and public records shall be open to the public for inspection and duplication. All votes taken by roll call in meetings of a public governmental body consisting of members who are all elected, shall be cast by members of the public governmental body who are physically present and in attendance at the meeting. When it is necessary to take votes by roll call in a meeting of the public governmental body, due to an emergency of the public body, with a quorum of the members of the public body physically present and in attendance and less than a quorum of the members of the public governmental body participating via telephone, facsimile, Internet, or any other voice or electronic means, the nature of the emergency of the public body justifying that departure from the normal requirements shall be stated in the minutes. Where such emergency exists, the votes taken shall be regarded as if all members were physically present and in attendance at the meeting.
B. A journal
or minutes of open and closed meetings shall be taken and retained
by the public governmental body including, but not limited to, a record
of any vote taken at such meeting. The minutes shall include the date,
time, place, members present, members absent, and a record of votes
taken. When a roll call vote is taken, the minutes shall attribute
each "yea" and "nay" vote, or abstinence if not voting, to the name
of the individual member of the public governmental body.
[RSMo. §§610.020.2, 610.020.3]
A. Each
meeting shall be held at a place reasonably accessible to the public
and of sufficient size to accommodate the anticipated attendance by
members of the public and at a time reasonably convenient to the public
unless for good cause such a place or time is impossible or impractical.
Every reasonable effort shall be made to grant special access to the
meeting to handicapped or disabled individuals.
B. When
it is necessary to hold a meeting on less than twenty-four (24) hours'
notice, or at a place that is not reasonably accessible to the public,
or at a time that is not reasonably convenient to the public, the
nature of the good cause justifying that departure from the normal
requirements shall be stated in the minutes.
[RSMo. §610.024]
If a public record contains material which is not exempt from
disclosure, as well as material which is exempt from disclosure, the
custodian shall separate the exempt and non-exempt material and make
the non-exempt material available for examination and copying in accord
with the policies provided herein. When designing a public record
the custodian shall, to the extent practicable, facilitate a separation
of exempt from non-exempt information. If the separation is readily
apparent to a person requesting to inspect or receive copies of the
form, the custodian shall generally describe the material exempted
unless that description would reveal the contents of the exempt information
and thus defeat the purpose of the exemption.
[RSMo. §610.100]
As used in this Article, the following terms shall have the
following definitions:
ARREST
An actual restraint of the person of the defendant, or by
his/her submission to the custody of the officer, under authority
of a warrant or otherwise for a criminal violation which results in
the issuance of a summons or the person being booked.
ARREST REPORT
A record of a law enforcement agency of an arrest and of
any detention or confinement incident thereto together with the charge
therefor.
INACTIVE
An investigation in which no further action will be taken
by a law enforcement agency or officer for any of the following reasons:
1.
A decision by the law enforcement agency not to pursue the case.
2.
Expiration of the time to file criminal charges pursuant to
the applicable statute of limitations or ten (10) years after the
commission of the offense, whichever date earliest occurs.
3.
Finality of the convictions of all persons convicted on the
basis of the information contained in the investigative report, by
exhaustion of or expiration of all rights of appeal of such persons.
INCIDENT REPORT
A record of a law enforcement agency consisting of the date,
time, specific location, name of the victim, and immediate facts and
circumstances surrounding the initial report of a crime or incident,
including any logs of reported crimes, accidents and complaints maintained
by that agency.
INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
A record, other than an arrest or incident report, prepared
by personnel of a law enforcement agency inquiring into a crime or
suspected crime either in response to an incident report or in response
to evidence developed by Law Enforcement Officers in the course of
their duties.
[RSMo. §610.100(2)(3)(4)(7)]
A. The Police Department of the City shall maintain records of all incidents reported to the Police Department and investigations and arrests made by the Police Department. All incident reports and arrest reports shall be open records. Notwithstanding any other provision of law other than the provisions of Subsection
(C) of this Section or Section 320.083, RSMo., investigative reports of the Police Department are closed records until the investigation becomes inactive. If any person is arrested and not charged with an offense against the law within thirty (30) days of the person's arrest, the arrest report shall thereafter be a closed record except that the disposition portion of the record may be accessed and except as provided in Section
120.150.
B. Except as provided in Subsections
(C) and
(D) of this Section, if any portion of a record or document of a Police Department Officer or the Police Department, other than an arrest report, which would otherwise be open, contains information that is reasonably likely to pose a clear and present danger to the safety of any victim, witness, undercover officer or other person; or jeopardize a criminal investigation, including records which would disclose the identity of a source wishing to remain confidential or a suspect not in custody; or which would disclose techniques, procedures or guidelines for Police Department investigations or prosecutions, that portion of the record shall be closed and shall be redacted from any record made available pursuant to this Chapter.
C. Any person, attorney for a person, or insurer of a person involved in any incident or whose property is involved in an incident may obtain any records closed pursuant to this Section or Section
120.150 for purposes of investigation of any civil claim or defense as provided by this Subsection. Any individual, his/her attorney or insurer involved in an incident or whose property is involved in an incident, upon written request, may obtain a complete unaltered and unedited incident report concerning the incident and may obtain access to other records closed by the Police Department pursuant to this Section. Within thirty (30) days of such request, the Police Department shall provide the requested material or file a motion pursuant to this Subsection with the Circuit Court having jurisdiction over the Police Department stating that the safety of the victim, witness or other individual cannot be reasonably ensured, or that a criminal investigation is likely to be jeopardized. Pursuant to Section 610.100(4), RSMo., if, based on such motion, the court finds for the Police Department, the court shall either order the record closed or order such portion of the record that should be closed to be redacted from any record made available pursuant to this Subsection.
D. Any
person may apply pursuant to this Subsection to the Circuit Court
having jurisdiction for an order requiring a Law Enforcement Agency
to open incident reports and arrest reports being unlawfully closed
pursuant to the Section. If the court finds by a preponderance of
the evidence that the Law Enforcement Officer or Agency has knowingly
violated this Section, the officer or agency shall be subject to a
civil penalty in an amount up to one thousand dollars ($1,000.00).
If the court finds that there is a knowing violation of this Section,
the court may order payment by such officer or agency of all costs
and attorneys' fees, as provided by Section 610.027, RSMo. If the
court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the Law Enforcement
Officer or Agency has purposely violated this Section, the officer
or agency shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount up to five
thousand dollars ($5,000.00) and the court shall order payment by
such officer or agency of all costs and attorney fees, as provided
in Section 610.027, RSMo. The court shall determine the amount of
the penalty by taking into account the size of the jurisdiction, the
seriousness of the offense, and whether the Law Enforcement Officer
or Agency has violated this Section previously.
E. The
victim of an offense as provided in Chapter 566, RSMo., may request
that his/her identity be kept confidential until a charge relating
to such incident is filed.
[RSMo. §610.105]
If the person arrested is charged but the case is subsequently nolle prossed, dismissed, or the accused is found not guilty, or imposition of sentence is suspended in the court in which the action is prosecuted, official records pertaining to the case shall thereafter be closed records when such case is finally terminated, except as provided in Section
120.150 and except that the court's judgment or order or the final action taken by the prosecutor in such matters may be accessed. If the accused is found not guilty due to mental disease or defect pursuant to Section 552.030, RSMo., official records pertaining to the case shall thereafter be closed records upon such findings, except that the disposition may be accessed only by law enforcement agencies, child care agencies, facilities as defined in Section 198.006, RSMo., and in-home services provider agencies as defined in Section 660.250, RSMo., in the manner established by Section
120.150.
[RSMo. §610.150]
Excepted as provided by this Section, any information acquired by the Police Department by way of a complaint or report of a crime made by telephone contact using the emergency number "911" shall be inaccessible to the general public. However, information consisting of the date, time, specific location, and immediate facts and circumstances surrounding the initial report of the crime or incident shall be considered to be an incident report and subject to Section
120.130. Any closed records pursuant to this Section shall be available upon request by law enforcement agencies or the Division of Workers' Compensation or pursuant to a valid court order authorizing disclosure upon motion and good cause shown.