Maryland Department of State Police v. Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches

988 A.2d 1075, 190 Md. App. 359, 38 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1562, 2010 Md. App. LEXIS 19
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedFebruary 2, 2010
Docket1476 September Term, 2008
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 988 A.2d 1075 (Maryland Department of State Police v. Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maryland Department of State Police v. Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches, 988 A.2d 1075, 190 Md. App. 359, 38 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1562, 2010 Md. App. LEXIS 19 (Md. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

SALMON, Judge.

The parties to this appeal are the Maryland Department of State Police (“MSP”), appellant-cross appellee, and the Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches (“NAACP”). The main issue to be resolved is whether about ten-thousand [362]*362documents that constitute the Maryland State Police’s internal affairs files relating to allegations of illegal racial profiling are “personnel records of an individual” within the meaning of that term as used in the Maryland Public Information Act (“the Act”). We shall hold that the Circuit Court for Baltimore County erred when it concluded that the records withheld by the MSP were “personnel records” within the meaning of the Act. Therefore, the records must be produced for inspection and' copying by the NAACP.

I.

The NAACP and the MSP entered into a federal consent decree in 2003 that obligated the MSP to combat racial profiling by its officers. The order was part of ongoing litigation between the parties. See Md. State Conf. of NAACP Branches v. Md. Dep’t of State Police, 72 F.Supp.2d 560 (D.Md.1999); appeal at Bridges v. Dep’t of Md. State Police, 441 F.3d 197 (4th Cir.2006); on remand, Md. State Conf. of NAACP Branches v. Md. State Police, 454 F.Supp.2d 339 (D.Md.2006).

In 2007, the NAACP became suspicious that the MSP was not fulfilling the obligations undertaken when it signed the consent decree. Accordingly, on February 27, 2007, the NAACP filed a request for information pursuant to Maryland Code (1984, 2004 Repl.Vol.), § § 10-611-10-630 of the State Government Article (i.e., the Act). The NAACP asked for twelve categories of State Police records.

Request No. 6 asked the MSP to produce:

All documents obtained or created in connection with any complaint of racial profiling, including but not limited to any complaint filed with or investigated by the MSP’s Department or Internal Affairs, including all complaints filed, all documents collected or created during the investigation of each complaint, and all documents reflecting the conclusion of each investigation.

On March 28, 2007, the MSP granted the NAACP’s request as to seven categories of records and denied it as to five [363]*363categories. Included in the requests denied was request No. 6.

Request No. 6 was denied on the sole ground that the documents requested were personnel records of an individual. In support of that denial, the MSP cited section 10-616(a) and (i) of the Act. Section 10-616 reads, in relevant part, as follows:

(a) In general—Unless otherwise provided by law, a custodian shall deny inspection of a public record, as provided in this section.
(i) Personnel records.
(1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this subsection, a custodian shall deny inspection of a personnel record of an individual, including an application, performance rating, or scholastic achievement information.
(2) A custodian shall permit inspection by:
(i) the person in interest; or
(ii) an elected or appointed official who supervises the work of the individual.

(Emphasis added.)

It is undisputed that the NAACP is neither a “person in interest” 1 nor “an elected or appointed official who supervises the work of the individual” as those terms are used in the Act.

The NAACP, by its counsel, sent a letter to the MSP on May 2, 2007, which concerned, among other things, request No. 6. In that letter, counsel said that the NAACP would [364]*364have no objection if the custodian redacted from the records the names of the officers and established instead “a unique number or code for each trooper ... [in order for the NAACP] to ascertain whether a particular trooper is referenced in more than one complaint and/or record without divulging that particular trooper’s identity.”

The parties could not reach an agreement as to what should be produced. Accordingly, on September 26, 2007, the NAACP, filed suit in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, in which it asked the court to compel the MSP to provide it with, among other things, documents covered by request No. 6, i.e., internal affairs records concerning racial profiling complaints lodged against various troopers.

Between March and June 2008, the parties conducted discovery and, at the request of the circuit court, the records at issue were delivered to the court for inspection in camera. The MSP represented to the court that the documents produced were all kept at police headquarters in the MSP’s internal affairs section.

After a hearing, the court delivered an oral opinion in which it discussed relevant decisions by the Court of Appeals relating to the meaning of the words “personnel record[s] of an individual” as that phrase is used in section 10—616(i) of the Act. The court concluded that the documents withheld were all personnel records because they “only exist because they represent the complaints of a citizen personally directed to a State Trooper [because of] misconduct, of being intimidated by racial bias, as opposed to legitimate reasons for stopping our motorists.” In the court’s words, “these are the kinds of files that are personnel in nature and represent a thrust against an individual trooper.”

Later in his opinion, the judge said:

So I felt at the end of the day having read these documents that a fair approach would be to require the State Police to redact the names and identity numbers—all troopers have an identity number—an ID number as well as the complainant’s identification so that people looking at these [365]*365documents would not be able to tell who the trooper was or who the complainant was, thereby to a great extent protecting the privacy of the trooper while at the same time giving to the Petitioner the right to see the mechanism that the State Police have taken to meaningfully investigate these complaints.
I did not feel it appropriate—and this is on the record—to just claim them all exempt and say NAACP, you’re not getting any of it. I did not feel it fair to say you’re getting all of them and risk privacy rights of the troopers being invaded and all kinds of other problems.
I believe the fair approach is to find that middle ground which is what Pm going to do. I have worried continuously about the logistics involved in this. There are lots of documents. The names of the troopers are all over these documents. Names of the complainants are all over these documents. It is going to be a difficult job to redact these names....

On August 11, 2008, the hearing judge filed an order, of which the first paragraph read:

Records responsive to Request No. 6 of Plaintiffs Maryland Public Information Act (“MPIA”) request dated February 27, 2007 constitute personnel records under the MPIA, however, the Court finds that they may be disclosed provided that the names and any identification number of individual Maryland State Police (“MSP”) troopers and the names and identifying information of any complainants are redacted from such records.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Dept. Pub. Safety & Corr. Svcs v. Proctor
Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2026
Maryland Department of State Police v. Dashiell
117 A.3d 1 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2015)
Dept. of State Police v. Dashiell
Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2015
Dashiell v. Maryland State Police Department
101 A.3d 562 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2014)
Comptroller of the Treasury v. Immanuel
85 A.3d 878 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2014)
Martin v. Conner
287 F.R.D. 348 (D. Maryland, 2012)
Montgomery County Maryland v. Shropshire
23 A.3d 205 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2011)
Maryland Department of State Police v. Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches
988 A.2d 1075 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
988 A.2d 1075, 190 Md. App. 359, 38 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1562, 2010 Md. App. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maryland-department-of-state-police-v-maryland-state-conference-of-naacp-mdctspecapp-2010.