[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
Chapter 610, RSMo. (commonly referred to as the "Sunshine Law"),
governs open meetings and records and shall control in the event that
the provisions contained herein are inconsistent with Chapter 610,
RSMo.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
As used in this article, unless the context otherwise indicates,
the following terms mean:
COPYING
If requested by a member of the public, copies provided as
detailed in the provisions of this chapter, if duplication equipment
is available.
PUBLIC BUSINESS
All matters which relate in any way to the performance of
the City's functions or the conduct of its business.
PUBLIC GOVERNMENTAL BODY
Any legislative, administrative, governmental entity created
by the Constitution or statutes of this state, orders or ordinance
of the City, judicial entities when operating in an administrative
capacity, or by executive order, including:
a.
Any advisory committee or commission appointed by the Mayor
or City Council;
b.
Any other legislative or administrative governmental deliberative
body under the direction of three or more elected or appointed members
having rule-making or quasi-judicial power;
c.
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 Mayor, City Council, or the Chief Administrative Officer,
policy or policy revisions or expenditures of public funds. The custodian
of the records of any public governmental body shall maintain a list
of the policy advisory committees described in this subsection; and
d.
Any quasi-public governmental body.
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 article,
but the term shall include a public 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 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 document or study prepared for a public governmental
body by a consultant or other professional service as described in
this section 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.
QUASI-PUBLIC GOVERNMENTAL BODY
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 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 leaseback 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.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
All meetings, records and votes are open to the public, except
that any meeting, record, minutes or vote relating to one or more
of the following matters, as well as other materials designated elsewhere
in this chapter, shall be closed unless the public governmental body
votes to make them public:
a. Legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public
governmental body and any confidential or privileged communications
between a public governmental body or its representatives and its
attorneys. However, any minutes, vote, or settlement agreement relating
to legal actions, causes of action, or litigation involving a public
governmental body or any agent or entity representing its interests
or acting on its behalf or with its authority, including any insurance
company acting on behalf of a public government body as its insured,
shall be made public upon final disposition of the matter voted upon
or upon the signing by the parties of the settlement agreement, unless,
prior to final disposition, the settlement agreement is ordered closed
by a court after a written finding that the adverse impact to a plaintiff
or plaintiffs to the action clearly outweighs the public policy considerations
of Section 610.011, RSMo.; however the amount of any moneys paid by,
or on behalf of, the public governmental body shall be disclosed;
provided, however, in matters involving the exercise of the power
of eminent domain, the vote shall be announced or become public immediately
following the action on the motion to authorize institution of such
a legal action. Legal work product shall be considered a closed record.
b. Leasing, purchase or sale of real estate by a public governmental
body where public knowledge of the transaction might adversely affect
the legal consideration therefor. However, any minutes or vote or
public record approving a contract relating to the leasing, purchase
or sale of real estate by a public governmental body shall be made
public upon execution of the lease, purchase, or sale of the real
estate.
c. Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees
by a public governmental body when personal information about the
employee is discussed or recorded. However, any vote on a final decision,
when taken by a public governmental body, to hire, fire, promote or
discipline an employee of a public governmental body shall be made
available with a record of how each member voted to the public within
72 hours of the close of the meeting where such action occurs; provided,
however, that any employee so affected shall be entitled to prompt
notice of such decision during the seventy-two-hour period before
such decision is made available to the public. As used herein, the
term "personal information" means information relating to the performance
or merit of individual employees.
d. Nonjudicial mental or physical health proceedings involving identifiable
persons, including medical, psychiatric, psychological, or alcoholism
or drug dependency diagnosis or treatment.
e. Testing and examination materials before the test or examination
is given, or if it is to be given again, before so given again.
f. Welfare cases of identifiable individuals.
g. Preparation, including any discussions or work product, on behalf
of a public governmental body or its representatives for negotiations
with employee groups.
h. Software codes for electronic data processing and documentation thereof.
i. Specifications for competitive bidding until either the specifications
are officially approved by the public governmental body or the specifications
are published for bid.
j. Sealed bids and related documents until the bids are opened; and
sealed proposals and related documents or any documents related to
a negotiated contract until a contract is executed or all proposals
are rejected.
k. Individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings
or records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment, except
that this exemption shall not apply to the names, positions, salaries
and lengths of service of officers and employees of public agencies
once they are employed as such. It is the policy of the City that
no information relating to present or past employees other than names,
positions, salaries and lengths of service shall be provided to any
person or agency other than as specifically requested in writing by
the employee in question in accord with applicable provisions of the
City's personnel policies, as may be required in response to a subpoena
lawfully issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, or as otherwise
may be required by law.
l. Records which are protected from disclosure by law.
m. Meetings and public records relating to scientific and technological
innovations in which the owner has a proprietary interest.
n. Records relating to municipal hotlines established for the reporting
of abuse and wrongdoing.
o. Confidential or privileged communications between a public governmental
body and its auditor, including all auditor work product; however,
all final audit reports issued by the auditor are to be considered
open records pursuant to this chapter.
p. Operational guidelines, policies and specific response plans developed,
adopted, or maintained by any public agency responsible for law enforcement,
public safety, first response, or public health for use in responding
to or preventing any critical incident which is or appears to be terrorist
in nature and which has the potential to endanger individual or public
safety or health. Financial records related to the procurement of
or expenditures relating to operational guidelines, policies or plans
purchased with public funds shall be open. When seeking to close information
pursuant to this exception, the public governmental body shall affirmatively
state in writing that disclosure would impair the public governmental
body's ability to protect the security or safety of persons or real
property, and shall in the same writing state that the public interest
in nondisclosure outweighs the public interest in disclosure of the
records.
[Amended 6-7-2018 by Ord.
No. 10492]
q. Existing or proposed security systems and structural plans of real
property owned or leased by a public governmental body, and information
that is voluntarily submitted by a nonpublic entity owning or operating
an infrastructure to any public governmental body for use by that
body to devise plans for protection of that infrastructure, the public
disclosure of which would threaten public safety.
[Amended 5-17-2018 by Ord. No. 10485; 6-7-2018 by Ord. No. 10492]
1. Records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to
security systems purchased with public funds shall be open.
2. When seeking to close information pursuant to this exception, the
public governmental body shall affirmatively state in writing that
disclosure would impair the public governmental body's ability to
protect the security or safety of persons or real property, and shall
in the same writing state that the public interest in nondisclosure
outweighs the public interest in disclosure of the records.
3. Records that are voluntarily submitted by a nonpublic entity shall
be reviewed by the receiving agency within 90 days of submission to
determine if retention of the document is necessary in furtherance
of a state security interest. If retention is not necessary, the documents
shall be returned to the nonpublic governmental body or destroyed.
r. Records that identify the configuration of components or the operation
of a computer, computer system, computer network, or telecommunications
network and would allow unauthorized access to or unlawful disruption
of a computer, computer system, computer network, or telecommunications
network of a public governmental body. This exception shall not be
used to limit or deny access to otherwise public records in a file,
document, data file or database containing public records. Records
related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to such computer,
computer system, computer network, or telecommunications network,
including the amount of moneys paid by or on behalf of a public governmental
body for such computer, computer system, computer network, or telecommunications
network shall be open.
s. Credit card numbers, personal identification numbers, digital certificates,
physical and virtual keys, access codes or authorization codes that
are used to protect the security of electronic transactions between
a public governmental body and a person or entity doing business with
a public governmental body. Nothing in this section shall be deemed
to close the record of a person or entity using a credit card held
in the name of a public governmental body or any record of a transaction
made by a person using a credit card or other method of payment for
which reimbursement is made by a public governmental body.
t. The portion of a record that identifies security systems or access
codes or authorization codes for security systems of real property.
[Amended 5-17-2018 by Ord. No. 10485; 6-7-2018 by Ord. No. 10492]
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
In order to allow the fullest cooperation by employees and members
of the public in investigation of matters wherein an employee of the
City is alleged to have engaged in any form of misconduct, all files,
records and documents relating to investigations of allegations of
misconduct by City employees will be considered to be personnel records
and shall be closed records under the custody of the respective department
head or personnel office.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
All information obtained by the City regarding medical examinations,
medical condition or medical history of City employees or job applicants,
if retained by the City, shall be collected and maintained on separate
forms and in separate medical files and shall be treated as closed
and confidential records, except that:
a. Supervisors and managers may be informed regarding necessary restrictions
on the work duties of employees and necessary accommodations;
b. First aid and safety personnel may be informed, when appropriate,
if the information reflects the existence of a disability which might
require emergency treatment; or
c. Government officials investigating compliance with state or federal
law pertaining to treatment of persons with disabilities may be allowed
access to such records.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
1. Each public governmental body shall give notice of the time, date,
place, and tentative agenda of each meeting 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 a bulletin board at City
Hall or other prominent place which is easily accessible to the public
and clearly designated for that purpose at the City Hall.
The notice shall be given at least 24 hours, exclusive of weekends
and holidays when the 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.
2. When it is necessary to hold a meeting on less than 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.
3. A formally constituted subunit of a parent governmental body may
conduct a meeting without notice as required by this section 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.
4. A public body shall allow for the recording by audiotape, videotape,
or other electronic means of any open meeting. A public body may establish
guidelines regarding the manner in which such recording is conducted
so as to minimize disruption to the meeting. No audio recording of
any meeting, record, or vote closed pursuant to the provisions of
Section 610.021, RSMo., shall be allowed without permission of the
public body.
[Amended 5-17-2018 by Ord. No. 10485]
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
1. A public governmental body proposing to hold a closed meeting or
vote may do so by either:
a. Giving notice of same pursuant to the provisions of this article
along with reference to the specific exception allowing such a closed
meeting under state law; or
b. Upon an affirmative public vote of the majority of a quorum of the
public governmental body. The vote of each member of the public 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 the
specific exception allowing such a closed meeting under state law
shall be announced publicly at an open meeting of the governmental
body and entered into the minutes.
2. Any meeting or vote closed pursuant to Section 610.021, RSMo., 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
which does not directly relate to the specific reason announced to
justify the closed meeting 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.
3. In the event any member of a public governmental body makes a motion
to close a meeting, or a record, or a vote from the public and any
other member believes that such motion, if passed, would cause a meeting,
record or vote to be closed from the public in violation of any provision
in Chapter 610, RSMo., or this article, such latter member shall state
his or her objection to the motion at or before the time the vote
is taken on the motion. The public governmental body shall enter in
the minutes of the public governmental body any objection made pursuant
to this subsection. Any member making such an objection shall be allowed
to fully participate in any meeting, record or vote that is closed
from the public over the member's objection. In the event the objecting
member also voted in opposition to the motion to close the meeting,
record or vote at issue, the objection and vote of the member as entered
in the minutes shall be an absolute defense to any claim filed against
the objecting member pursuant to Chapter 610, RSMo.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
1. 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 votes taken at such meeting. The minutes shall
include the date, time, place, members present, members absent and
a record of any votes taken.
2. All votes by members of a public governmental body at any meeting
shall be recorded. 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 body. Any votes taken
during a closed meeting shall be taken by roll call and the minutes
of the closed meeting, sufficient to reflect the vote pursuant to
this subsection, shall be recorded. All votes taken by roll call in
meetings of a public governmental body consisting of members who are
all elected, except for the Missouri General Assembly and any committee
established by a public governmental body, shall be cast by members
of the public governmental body who are physically present and in
attendance at the meeting or who are participating via video conferencing.
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.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
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.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
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 nonexempt material and make
the nonexempt 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 nonexempt 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.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
1. The City Clerk shall be the Custodian of Records and will be responsible
for maintenance and control of all records. The Chief Administrative
Officer may designate Deputy Custodians in operating departments of
the City and such other departments or offices as the Chief Administrative
Officer may determine. Deputy Custodians shall conduct matters relating
to public records and meetings in accord with the policies enumerated
herein.
2. Except as otherwise provided by law, the City shall provide access
to and, upon request, furnish copies of the City's public records
subject to the provisions of the Code of Ordinances relating to copying
fees. No person shall remove original public records from the City
Hall or from the office of the Custodian of Records without written
permission of the Custodian. No public governmental body shall grant
to any person or entity, whether by contract, license, or otherwise,
the exclusive right to access and disseminate any public record unless
the granting of such right is necessary to facilitate coordination
with or uniformity among industry regulators having similar authority.
3. The Custodian of Records may require persons seeking access to public
records to submit such request in writing and/or on a form designated
by the Custodian for such purpose. Such written request shall be sufficiently
particular to reasonably apprize the Custodian of the records sought.
4. Each request for access to a public record shall be acted upon as
soon as possible, but in no event later than the end of the third
business day following the date the request is received by the Custodian
of Records. If records are requested in a certain format, the public
body shall provide the records in the requested format if such format
is available. If access to the public record is not granted immediately,
the Custodian shall give a detailed explanation of the cause for further
delay and the place and earliest time and date that the record will
be available for inspection. This period for document production may
exceed three days for reasonable cause.
5. If a request for access is denied, the Custodian of Records shall
provide, upon request, a written statement of the grounds for such
denial. Such statement shall cite the specific provision of law under
which access is denied and shall be furnished to the requester no
later than the end of the third business day following the date that
the request for the statement is received.
6. 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 of Records in the same format. The provisions of
this subsection shall only apply to messages sent to other 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,
however, to the exceptions for closed records as provided by law.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
A public governmental body or record custodian in doubt about
the legality of closing a particular meeting, record or vote may,
subject to approval by the City Council, bring suit in the Circuit
Court for the County of St. Louis to ascertain the propriety of such
action. In addition, subject to approval by the City Council, the
public governmental body or custodian may seek a formal opinion of
the Attorney General or an attorney for the City regarding the propriety
of such action. In such events, the proposed closed meeting or public
access to the record or vote shall be deferred for a reasonable time
pending the outcome of the actions so taken.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
1. The custodian shall charge $0.10 per page for a paper copy not larger
than nine inches by 14 inches, plus an hourly fee for duplicating
time not to exceed the average hourly rate of pay for clerical staff
of the City. Research time required for fulfilling records requests
may be charged at the actual cost of research time. Based on the scope
of the request, the City shall produce the copies using employees
of the City that result in the lowest amount of charges for search,
research, and duplication time. Prior to producing copies of the requested
records, the person requesting the records may request the City to
provide an estimate of the cost to the person requesting the records.
The custodian shall receive (or may require) payment prior to duplicating
and/or searching for documents.
2. Fees for providing access to public records maintained on computer
facilities, recording tapes or disks, videotapes or films, pictures,
maps, slides, graphics, illustrations or similar audio or visual items
or devices, and for paper copies larger than nine inches by 14 inches
shall include only the cost of copies, staff time, which shall not
exceed the average hourly rate of pay for staff of the City required
for making copies and programming, if necessary, and the disk or tape
or other medium used for the duplication. Fees for maps, blueprints,
or plats that require special expertise to duplicate may include the
actual rate of compensation for the trained personnel required to
duplicate such maps, blueprints, or plats. If programming is required
beyond the customary and usual level to comply with a request for
records or information, the fees for compliance may include the actual
costs of such programming.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
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:
a.
A decision by the law enforcement agency not to pursue the case.
b.
Expiration of the time to file criminal charges pursuant to
the applicable statute of limitations, or 10 years after the commission
of the offense, whichever date earliest occurs.
c.
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.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
1. 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
(3) of this section or Section 320.083, RSMo., investigate 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 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 except as provided in §
2-634.
2. Except as provided in Subsections
(3) and
(4) 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 article.
3. 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 §
2-634 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 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.
4. 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.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
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 that the disposition portion of the record may be accessed except as provided in §
2-634. 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 192.2400, RSMo., in the manner established by §
2-634.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
1. Records required to be closed shall not be destroyed; they shall
be inaccessible to the general public and to all persons other than
the defendant except as provided in this section and Section 43.507,
RSMo. They shall be available to the Sentencing Advisory Commission
created in Section 558.019, RSMo., for the purpose of studying sentencing
practices, and only to courts, law enforcement agencies, child care
agencies, Department of Revenue for driving record purposes, facilities
as defined in Section 198.006, RSMo., in-home services provider agencies
as defined in Section 192.2400, RSMo., the Division of Workers' Compensation
for the purposes of determining eligibility for crime victims' compensation
pursuant to Sections 595.010 to 595.075, RSMo., and federal agencies
for purposes of prosecution, sentencing, parole consideration, criminal
justice employment, child-care employment, nursing home employment
and to federal agencies for such investigative purposes as authorized
by law or Presidential Executive Order. These records shall be made
available for the above purposes regardless of any previous statutory
provision which had closed such records to certain agencies or for
certain purposes. All records which are closed records shall be removed
from the records of the Police Department and Municipal Court which
are available to the public and shall be kept in separate records
which are to be held confidential and, where possible, pages of the
public record shall be retyped or rewritten omitting those portions
of the record which deal with the defendant's case. If retyping or
rewriting is not feasible because of the permanent nature of the record
books, such record entries shall be blacked out and recopied in a
confidential book.
2. As used in this section, the term "child care" includes providers
and youth services agencies as those terms are defined in Section
43.540, RSMo., elementary and secondary school teachers, and elementary
and secondary school bus drivers, whether such drivers are employed
by a school or an entity which has contracted with the school to provide
transportation services.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
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 §
2-632. 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.
[Ord. No. 9804, 11-6-2008]
1. The City of Kirkwood Police Department, if it maintains a daily log
or record that lists suspected crimes, accidents, or complaints, shall
make available the following information for inspection and copying
by the public:
a. The time, substance, and location of all complaints or requests for
assistance received by the Police Department;
b. The time and nature of the Police Department's response to all complaints
or requests for assistance; and
c. If the incident involves an alleged crime or infraction:
i. The time, date and location of occurrence;
ii.
The name and age of any victim, unless the victim is a victim
of a crime under Chapter 566, RSMo;
iii.
The factual circumstances surrounding the incident; and
iv.
A general description of any injuries, property or weapons involved.