The Lexington, Ky., police department cited the risk of terrorism as an excuse to not release information concerning its surveillance equipment.
When a local resident filed an Open Records Act request after noticing surveillance cameras had been installed in a public park without prior notice, according to an American Civil Liberties Union press release, the police department denied his request, claiming that releasing the camera models and manuals would endanger law enforcement personnel and compromise criminal investigations and confidential informants.
The city also cited a homeland security exemption from releasing the documents, arguing that releasing the documents would result in the “reasonable likelihood of a threat to public safety in the form of a terrorist act.”
The Kentucky attorney general and a state judge have already told the Lexington's police department to release documents about its surveillance cameras but the department has appealed to a higher court after refusing to comply.
