Chris Perley: Facts Matter

After reading an Oct. 25 article in The Conway Daily Sun titled “Black Mountain gives police five days for docs,” I was taken aback, to say the least. I certainly understand the principles of open government and the validity of New Hampshire’s Right-to-Know law, RSA 91-A. We strive to fulfill legitimate requests for information as quickly as we can while maintaining investigative integrity and protecting the privacy rights of any witnesses or victims involved. One of the ways we do this is through redactions of privileged or private information.

To suggest that redactions are some form of “hide the ball” is patently wrong. The Liquor Commission report provided by the New Hampshire Department of Justice was redacted by that office, not ours. We were specifically advised that the redacted version of the report was the approved 91-A version for release. We followed the same protocols as the DOJ in applying our redactions. All redactions associated with the materials were made for two specific reasons: the Driver Privacy Act (RSA 260:14) and the privacy interests of the callers.