The ACLU of New Hampshire, along with a group of news organizations, is suing the N.H. Attorney General over the release of an internal list of police officers with credibility issues.
The state has kept the so-called “Laurie List” since 2004, according to the lawsuit filed on Friday in Superior Court. The list contains the names of more than 170 law enforcement officers, both active and former, who have sustained disciplinary issues and may not be appropriate to testify in criminal trials.
[You can read more about the Laurie List here.]
The AG’s office maintains the list so that it can inform defense attorneys when the officers are involved in their client’s criminal cases. The office has declined previous requests to release the list, citing confidentiality concerns. The lawsuit seeks to compel its release under the state’s Right to Know law.
“Any minimal privacy interest held by the 171 officers on the list, who have engaged in conduct that bears on their credibility or truthfulness, must yield to the central purpose of the public’s right to know: to know what police officers are up to so the public can hold them accountable,” reads the suit.
The Union Leader, Concord Monitor and Nashua Telegraph, along with other newspapers, have joined the suit.
