West Virginia law enforcement agencies must do more to maintain records of police misconduct and violence, and they must take open records laws more seriously, a new report by ACLU-WV has found.
The report, which relied on records requests made under the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act, found that agencies lack standardized reporting and record keeping methods regarding allegations of police violence.
Numerous police agencies simply ignored the records requests, which is a violation of state law.
“Good policy starts with good data, and we do not have good data,” said ACLU-WV Policy Director Eli Baumwell, the chief author of the report.
West Virginia’s 275 law enforcement agencies are required to respond to public records requests. However, the response rate for this report was just 55 percent. Of the state’s 55 county sheriff’s departments, just 21 responded to requests.
Agencies also lack standardized definitions for terms like “misconduct.” This and other factors regularly lead to inconsistencies in reporting. As a result, the picture of police violence and misconduct in West Virginia remains murky at best.
West Virginians have a right to know how often authorities resort to violence against the communities they police. They have a right to why law enforcement resort to violence. And they have a right to know what consequences authorities will face if they do not follow procedures.
Unfortunately, much of that remains unknown for now.
Law enforcement works best when it communicates clearly with the community. Unfortunately, West Virginia can still do much better.