It seems appropriate that during Sunshine Week, a bill to letmore sun shine on criminal incident reports passed the MississippiLegislature and now awaits the governor’s signature.

HB 474 clarifies what information law enforcement agencies willbe required to make public. Under the new law, law enforcementagencies would be required to give basic information following acriminal incident such as who is involved, where and when a allegedcrime took place and who may have been arrested. Confidentialinformation related to on going criminal investigations will stillbe closed to pubic view.

Across the state, some law enforcement agencies for years haveused ambiguities in the old law to withhold information onrobberies, burglaries and other incidents resulting in some eventsnever being reported. Such lack of information resulted inquestions, rumors and the inability of the public to fully beinformed of crime events in their community.

Another factor to consider is that by having criminal incidentbehavior more readily available, citizens can become knowledgeableand take steps to protect themselves and their property if criminalactivity appears on the rise in their neighborhoods. In that sense,HB 474 is as much about public safety and awareness as it is aboutopenness in government.