Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Soazig Lebihan
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Philosophy
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Police officers in the United States are granted an extraordinary amount of discretion in their posts and hold unique positions of power within their communities. Consequently, they carry increased responsibility for their actions. However, existing law in Montana provides multiple avenues for the classification or destruction of records relevant to officer conduct, making it impossible for the public to spot patterns of misconduct or adequately evaluate an officer’s fitness for public office. This particular legal issue is receiving special consideration as citizens of the United States are reckoning with the disproportionate police killings of people of color and searching for better ways to hold police officers accountable. In Montana, native people comprise the second largest population group and are the most likely to be killed by police. Ensuring that important police records are made accessible to the public is imperative to achieving fairness and transparency in the field of policing, and advances relationships between police forces and the communities they serve.
With this challenge in mind, our team began by researching pertinent state law and learning more about the Montana Supreme Court’s historical relationship with privacy and public interest concerns. Then, we explored legal solutions that have been suggested by groups working toward better policing and policies that other states have enacted to improve transparency. Our analysis suggests that a policy solution modeled after California’s 2018 legislation (SB-1421) on the release of peace officer records would achieve the goal of increased transparency while respecting Montana Supreme Court precedent.
Category
Humanities
Accessibility of Police Officer Conduct Records in Montana and Policy Solutions to Move Toward Transparency
Police officers in the United States are granted an extraordinary amount of discretion in their posts and hold unique positions of power within their communities. Consequently, they carry increased responsibility for their actions. However, existing law in Montana provides multiple avenues for the classification or destruction of records relevant to officer conduct, making it impossible for the public to spot patterns of misconduct or adequately evaluate an officer’s fitness for public office. This particular legal issue is receiving special consideration as citizens of the United States are reckoning with the disproportionate police killings of people of color and searching for better ways to hold police officers accountable. In Montana, native people comprise the second largest population group and are the most likely to be killed by police. Ensuring that important police records are made accessible to the public is imperative to achieving fairness and transparency in the field of policing, and advances relationships between police forces and the communities they serve.
With this challenge in mind, our team began by researching pertinent state law and learning more about the Montana Supreme Court’s historical relationship with privacy and public interest concerns. Then, we explored legal solutions that have been suggested by groups working toward better policing and policies that other states have enacted to improve transparency. Our analysis suggests that a policy solution modeled after California’s 2018 legislation (SB-1421) on the release of peace officer records would achieve the goal of increased transparency while respecting Montana Supreme Court precedent.